Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWauseon’s library lends 5.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Wauseon Public Library serves 10,457 people in and around Wauseon. Last year it lent 72K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
What Wauseon’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
54% of the budget comes from the state, and 30% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
78% of the 308 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 3.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Programs draw a crowd
11,000 people came to the system’s 308 programs last year: 1.1 per resident, against a typical 0.4, more than at 90% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
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; Wauseon Public Library serves 10,457 people in and around Wauseon, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Wauseon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wauseon is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns, #27 of 914 in Ohio. Wauseon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Wauseon’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 →
65 community nonprofits are registered in Wauseon
8.6 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.9%
10.9% of Wauseon’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 Wauseon’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Wauseon Public Library serves 10,457 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 29 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wauseon Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
72K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
18,163 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Wauseon Public Library, 117 E. Elm St., Wauseon.
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 Wauseon Public Library branch.
New in Wauseon? 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 $2.05 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wauseon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $576K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $576K 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 2,081 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Wauseon Public Library serves 10,457 people in and around Wauseon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wauseon.
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 Wauseon
Does Wauseon have a public library?
Yes. Wauseon Public Library, 117 E. Elm St., serves 10,457 people in and around Wauseon (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wauseon 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 Wauseon’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 6.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Wauseon’s civic life grade?
A+ Wauseon is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life, #27 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 Wauseon.
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.