Photo: Public domain · Public domainBrooklyn’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Brooklyn Town Library Association serves Brooklyn’s 8,612 residents. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,410 visits.
What Brooklyn’s library is like
Brooklyn Town Library Association is used less than most libraries its size
Brooklyn Town Library Association records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $18 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
52% of the 166 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 73 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 58% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 78% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Brooklyn Town Library Association holds 24,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
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.
What’s behind Brooklyn’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Brooklyn is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns, #143 of 155 in Connecticut. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Brooklyn Town Library Association spends $18 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($72K–$120K) 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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Brooklyn
2.7 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.6%
7.6% of Brooklyn’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 Brooklyn’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Brooklyn Town Library Association serves 8,612 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 24K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
4,007 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Brooklyn last year.
Find it
Brooklyn Town Library Association, 10 Canterbury Rd., Brooklyn.
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 $1.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Brooklyn cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $154K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $208K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $154K 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 3,864 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Brooklyn ranks 6th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canterbury | Canterbury Public Library fine-free | 4.8 | 43 | B− |
| Killingly | Killingly Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 45 | B− |
| Danielson | Killingly Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 45 | C+ |
| Pomfret | Pomfret Public Library fine-free | 2.9 | 32 | B+ |
| Hampton | Fletcher Memorial Library fine-free | 2.5 | 20 | B+ |
| Brooklyn | Brooklyn Town Library Association fine-free | 1.6 | 33 | C− |
| Plainfield | Aldrich Free Public Library | 1.0 | 23 | C− |
| East Brooklyn | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Wauregan | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Brooklyn
Does Brooklyn have a public library?
Yes. Brooklyn Town Library Association, 10 Canterbury Rd., serves Brooklyn’s 8,612 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brooklyn Town Library Association fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Brooklyn’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Brooklyn’s civic life grade?
C− Brooklyn is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns on civic life, #143 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 Brooklyn.
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.