Photo: JonRidinger · CC BY 3.0Ravenna’s library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Reed Memorial Library serves 20,292 people in and around Ravenna. Last year it lent 286K books, movies and e-books and logged 116K visits.
Ravenna’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
26,185 cards for 20,292 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Ohio pays a big share
49% of the budget comes from the state, and 38% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Reed Memorial Library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 92% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Open about 69 hours a week
The Ravenna branch is open about 69 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. It’s 23% 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; Reed Memorial Library serves 20,292 people in and around Ravenna, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Ravenna’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ravenna is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns, #512 of 914 in Ohio. Ravenna is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Ravenna’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
44 community nonprofits are registered in Ravenna
3.9 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.7%
7.7% of Ravenna’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 Ravenna’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Reed Memorial Library serves 20,292 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 80 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Reed Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
286K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
66,228 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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
Reed Memorial Library, 167 E. Main St., Ravenna.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Reed Memorial Library branch.
New in Ravenna? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.10 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ravenna cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 26,185 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Reed Memorial Library serves 20,292 people in and around Ravenna, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ravenna.
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 Ravenna
Does Ravenna have a public library?
Yes. Reed Memorial Library, 167 E. Main St., serves 20,292 people in and around Ravenna (the survey’s count) and is open about 69 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Reed Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Ravenna’s library?
It logged 5.7 visits and lent 14.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ravenna’s civic life grade?
B− Ravenna is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns on civic life, #512 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 Ravenna.
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.