Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station · Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 3.0Silver Spring’s library is a branch of Montgomery County Public Libraries, which lends more per resident than 84% of systems its size
Silver Spring’s library is the Brigadier General Charles E Mcgee (Sliver Spring) Branch, a branch of Montgomery County Public Libraries, which serves 1,054,827 people and lent 11M items last year.
What Silver Spring’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 62% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 88% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.5 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.4, higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. It’s 34% of all loans. 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; Silver Spring’s library is a branch of Montgomery County Public Libraries, so they cover the whole system (1,054,827 people), not just the Silver Spring branch.
What’s behind Silver Spring’s civic life grade
Silver Spring isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Montgomery County Public Libraries, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Silver Spring
Silver Spring is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
7.8%
7.8% of Silver Spring’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.2% in the typical Maryland 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 Silver Spring’s residents live; 2022.
About 60 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Montgomery County Public Libraries serves 1,054,827 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 165 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Montgomery County Public Libraries system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
11M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,673,794 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
2 places to borrow in Silver Spring
Brigadier General Charles E Mcgee (Sliver Spring) Branch, 900 Wayne Ave, Silver Spring.
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 Montgomery County Public Libraries branch.
New in Silver Spring? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Montgomery County Public Libraries branches in Silver Spring
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $4.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Silver Spring cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $47M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $191M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $47M 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 648,147 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library fine-free | 9.5 | 64 | A |
| Takoma Park | Takoma Park Maryland Library fine-free | 2.4 | 56 | A− |
| Silver Spring | Brigadier General Charles E Mcgee (Sliver Spring) Branch fine-free | — | 61 | — unincorporated |
| Chevy Chase | Chevy Chase Branch fine-free | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| South Kensington | Kensington Park Branch fine-free | — | 61 | — unincorporated |
| Four Corners | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Langley Park | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Hillandale | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Forest Glen | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Adelphi | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Kemp Mill | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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. Brigadier General Charles E Mcgee (Sliver Spring) Branch is one branch of Montgomery County Public Libraries, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 1,054,827 people it serves.
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 Silver Spring
Does Silver Spring have a public library?
Yes: Brigadier General Charles E Mcgee (Sliver Spring) Branch, 900 Wayne Ave, is a branch of Montgomery County Public Libraries, which serves 1,054,827 people. The branch is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Montgomery County Public Libraries 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 Silver Spring’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 10.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Silver Spring’s civic life grade?
Silver Spring isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Montgomery County Public Libraries, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Silver Spring.
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.