Photo: Nyttend · Public domainPort Clinton’s library lends 7.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Ida Rupp Public Library serves 18,955 people in and around Port Clinton. Last year it lent 189K books, movies and e-books and logged 80K visits.
What Port Clinton’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
36% of the budget comes from the state, and 52% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
A well-funded system
Ida Rupp Public Library spends $145 per resident a year, about three times the typical $43 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
55% of the 627 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 164 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. It’s 27% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Ida Rupp Public Library serves 18,955 people in and around Port Clinton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Port Clinton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Port Clinton is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns, #277 of 914 in Ohio. Port Clinton is graded on two of the three inputs. Port Clinton’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
41 community nonprofits are registered in Port Clinton
6.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Port Clinton’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.5% in the typical Ohio town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Port Clinton’s residents live; 2022.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.10 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Port Clinton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $2.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.8M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 8,866 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Ida Rupp Public Library serves 18,955 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 35 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ida Rupp Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
189K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
51,245 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Ida Rupp Public Library, 310 Madison St., Port Clinton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ida Rupp Public Library branch.
New in Port Clinton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Clinton | Ida Rupp Public Library fine-free | — | 58 | B+ |
| Portage Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Bay Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Erie Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Ida Rupp Public Library serves 18,955 people in and around Port Clinton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Port Clinton.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Port Clinton
Does Port Clinton have a public library?
Yes. Ida Rupp Public Library, 310 Madison St., serves 18,955 people in and around Port Clinton (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ida Rupp Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Port Clinton’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 9.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Port Clinton’s civic life grade?
B+ Port Clinton is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns on civic life, #277 of 914 in Ohio. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Port Clinton.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.