Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Conneaut Lake’s library runs 59 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Margaret Shontz Memorial Library serves 3,959 people in and around Conneaut Lake. Last year it lent 15K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,485 visits.
What stands out about Margaret Shontz Memorial Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Conneaut Lake’s civic life grade
Conneaut Lake isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Margaret Shontz Memorial Library serves 3,959 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Margaret Shontz Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
15K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,445 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Margaret Shontz Memorial Library, 145 Second St., Conneaut Lake.
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 Margaret Shontz Memorial Library branch.
New in Conneaut Lake? 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 $4.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Conneaut Lake cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $69K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $282K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $69K 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 975 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conneaut Lake | Margaret Shontz Memorial Library fine-free | — | 44 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Conneaut Lakeshore | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Margaret Shontz Memorial Library serves 3,959 people in and around Conneaut Lake, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Conneaut Lake.
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 Conneaut Lake
Does Conneaut Lake have a public library?
Yes. Margaret Shontz Memorial Library, 145 Second St., serves 3,959 people in and around Conneaut Lake (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Margaret Shontz Memorial 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 Conneaut Lake’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Conneaut Lake’s civic life grade?
Conneaut Lake isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Conneaut Lake.
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.