Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWellston’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library serves 8,980 people in and around Wellston. Last year it lent 28K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
What Wellston’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
93% of the budget comes from the state, and 0% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
More library cards than residents
11,032 cards for 8,980 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
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; Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library serves 8,980 people in and around Wellston, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Wellston’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wellston is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #324 of 914 in Ohio. Wellston is graded on two of the three inputs. Wellston’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 →
36 community nonprofits are registered in Wellston
6.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.1%
7.1% of Wellston’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 Wellston’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library serves 8,980 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
28K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,918 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
Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library, 135 E. Second St., Wellston.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library branch.
New in Wellston? 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 $1.08 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wellston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $461K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $497K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $461K 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 11,032 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wellston | Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library fine-free | — | 42 | B+ |
| Milton Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Coal Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Washington Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library serves 8,980 people in and around Wellston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wellston.
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 Wellston
Does Wellston have a public library?
Yes. Sylvester Memorial Wellston Public Library, 135 E. Second St., serves 8,980 people in and around Wellston (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sylvester Memorial Wellston 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 Wellston’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Wellston’s civic life grade?
B+ Wellston is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #324 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 Wellston.
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.