Photo: Mgoudy85 · Public domainParkersburg’s library logs 1.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library serves 73,644 people in and around Parkersburg from 2 locations. Last year it lent 345K books, movies and e-books and logged 137K visits.
What Parkersburg’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Federal money pays a real share
10% of the budget comes from federal grants, and 68% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
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; Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library serves 73,644 people in and around Parkersburg, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Parkersburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Parkersburg is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #21 of 48 in West Virginia. Parkersburg is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Parkersburg’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
178 community nonprofits are registered in Parkersburg
6.1 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 (47 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.
8.1%
8.1% of Parkersburg’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.9% in the typical West Virginia 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 Parkersburg’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library serves 73,644 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 42 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
345K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Parkersburg’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
88,720 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 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.
2 places to borrow in Parkersburg
Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library, 3100 Emerson Av., Parkersburg.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library branch.
New in Parkersburg? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library branches in Parkersburg
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.55 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Parkersburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 12,760 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.
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. Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library serves 73,644 people in and around Parkersburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Parkersburg.
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 Parkersburg
Does Parkersburg have a public library?
Yes. Parkersburg/Wood Co. Public Library, 3100 Emerson Av., serves 73,644 people in and around Parkersburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Parkersburg/Wood Co. 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 Parkersburg’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 4.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Parkersburg’s civic life grade?
A− Parkersburg is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on civic life, #21 of 48 in West Virginia. 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 Parkersburg.
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.