Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Zanesville’s library runs 17 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Muskingum County Library System serves 86,410 people in and around Zanesville. Last year it lent 487K books, movies and e-books and logged 215K visits.
What stands out about Muskingum County Library System
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Zanesville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Zanesville is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #553 of 914 in Ohio. Zanesville is graded on two of the three inputs. Zanesville’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 →
126 community nonprofits are registered in Zanesville
5.1 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 (26 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.
6.1%
6.1% of Zanesville’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 Zanesville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Muskingum County Library System serves 86,410 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 37 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Muskingum County Library System system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
487K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
108,772 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 12 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
Muskingum County Library System, 220 N. Fifth St., Zanesville.
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 Muskingum County Library System branch.
New in Zanesville? 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 $1.51 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Zanesville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.1M 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 40,350 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zanesville | Muskingum County Library System fine-free | — | 42 | B− |
| Springfield Township | South Branch fine-free | — | 42 | C |
| Wayne Township | Duncan Falls/Philo Branch fine-free | — | 42 | A− |
| Falls Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Washington Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| North Zanesville | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Pleasant Grove | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Muskingum Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| South Zanesville | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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. Muskingum County Library System serves 86,410 people in and around Zanesville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Zanesville.
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 Zanesville
Does Zanesville have a public library?
Yes. Muskingum County Library System, 220 N. Fifth St., serves 86,410 people in and around Zanesville (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Muskingum County Library System 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 Zanesville’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Zanesville’s civic life grade?
B− Zanesville is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #553 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 Zanesville.
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.