James Rowley and Mary J. Blackaby House · Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0Ontario’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Ontario Library District serves 27,671 people in and around Ontario. Last year it lent 56K print books and media and logged 26K visits.
What Ontario’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Ontario Library District sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. How it compares ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 14% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Ontario Library District records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, below 91% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2 print items per resident. 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; Ontario Library District serves 27,671 people in and around Ontario, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Ontario’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ontario is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #71 of 106 in Oregon. Ontario is graded on two of the three inputs. Ontario’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 →
98 community nonprofits are registered in Ontario
8.3 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 (18 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.
6.0%
6.0% of Ontario’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.9% in the typical Oregon 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 Ontario’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Ontario Library District serves 27,671 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ontario Library District system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
56K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
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
Ontario Library District, 388 SW 2nd Ave, Ontario.
Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ontario Library District branch.
New in Ontario? 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 $1.31 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ontario cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $671K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $876K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $671K 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 3,777 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Ontario Library District serves 27,671 people in and around Ontario, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ontario.
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 Ontario
Does Ontario have a public library?
Yes. Ontario Library District, 388 SW 2nd Ave, serves 27,671 people in and around Ontario (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ontario Library District fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Ontario’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 2.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Ontario’s civic life grade?
B Ontario is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #71 of 106 in Oregon. 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 Ontario.
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.