Brookfield Center Historic District · Photo: The original uploader was Polaron at English Wikipedia. · CC BY 2.5Brookfield’s library runs 38 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Brookfield Library serves Brookfield’s 17,489 residents. Last year it lent 122K books, movies and e-books and logged 68K visits.
What stands out about Brookfield’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Brookfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Brookfield is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns, #102 of 155 in Connecticut. Library visits hold the grade up; Brookfield’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($111K–$185K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
58 community nonprofits are registered in Brookfield
3.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.1%
7.1% of Brookfield’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.5% in the typical Connecticut 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 Brookfield’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Brookfield Library serves 17,489 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 44 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
122K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 64K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
28,028 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Brookfield last year.
Find it
Brookfield Library, 182 Whisconier Road, Brookfield.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Brookfield? 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 $2.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Brookfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $930K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $930K 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 6,031 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Brookfield ranks 3rd of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgewater | Burnham Library fine-free | 11.3 | 32 | A+ |
| Bethel | Bethel Public Library | 7.0 | 53 | B− |
| Brookfield | Brookfield Library fine-free | 6.9 | 53 | C+ |
| Newtown | Cyrenius H. Booth Library fine-free | 5.5 | 54 | A |
| New Fairfield | New Fairfield Free Public Library fine-free | 5.1 | 46 | B− |
| New Milford | New Milford Public Library | 4.7 | 45 | C+ |
| Danbury | Danbury Public Library | 3.2 | 51 | D |
| Candlewood Orchards | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Candlewood Shores | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Candlewood Lake Club | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Brookfield Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Brookfield
Does Brookfield have a public library?
Yes. Brookfield Library, 182 Whisconier Road, serves Brookfield’s 17,489 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brookfield 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 Brookfield’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 6.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Brookfield’s civic life grade?
C+ Brookfield is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns on civic life, #102 of 155 in Connecticut. 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 Brookfield.
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.