Photo: LeeG7144 · CC BY-SA 3.0Wickliffe’s library lends 16 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Wickliffe Public Library serves 12,652 people in and around Wickliffe. Last year it lent 243K books, movies and e-books and logged 116K visits.
What Wickliffe’s library is like
One of the busiest library systems its size
Wickliffe Public Library logs 9.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 16 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 95% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Ohio pays a big share
48% of the budget comes from the state, and 36% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ borrowing is a standout
Children’s books and media are 36% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Wickliffe Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 88% of similar-size libraries. It’s 16% 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; Wickliffe Public Library serves 12,652 people in and around Wickliffe, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Wickliffe’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Wickliffe is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #408 of 914 in Ohio. Library visits hold 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 →
52 community nonprofits are registered in Wickliffe
4.1 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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.1%
6.1% of Wickliffe’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 Wickliffe’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
243K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
38,075 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Wickliffe Public Library serves 12,652 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 73 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wickliffe Public Library system. The library’s own count.
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.
Find it
Wickliffe Public Library, 1713 Lincoln Rd., Wickliffe.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Wickliffe Public Library branch.
New in Wickliffe? 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 $3.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wickliffe cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 6,630 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wickliffe | Wickliffe Public Library | — | 64 | B |
| Willoughby Hills | Willoughby Hills Branch fine-free | — | 52 | D |
| Euclid | Euclid Public Library fine-free | — | 62 | C |
| Willowick | Willowick Branch Library fine-free | — | 68 | D |
| Willoughby | Willoughby Branch Library fine-free | — | 68 | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Wickliffe Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Wickliffe Public Library serves 12,652 people in and around Wickliffe, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wickliffe.
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 Wickliffe
Does Wickliffe have a public library?
Yes. Wickliffe Public Library, 1713 Lincoln Rd., serves 12,652 people in and around Wickliffe (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wickliffe Public 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 Wickliffe’s library?
It logged 9.1 visits and lent 19.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Wickliffe’s civic life grade?
B Wickliffe is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #408 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 Wickliffe.
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.