Photo: Dwight Burdette · CC BY 3.0Brooklyn’s library is a branch of Jackson District Library, which lends more per resident than 89% of systems its size
Brooklyn’s library is the Brooklyn Branch Library, a branch of Jackson District Library, which serves 160,366 people and lent 1.5M items last year.
What stands out about Brooklyn Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Brooklyn’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Brooklyn is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns. Brooklyn is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Brooklyn’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Brooklyn
2.9 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.7%
11.7% of Brooklyn’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 12.4% in the typical Michigan 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.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.5M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
259,506 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Jackson District Library serves 160,366 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 62 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Jackson District Library system. The library’s own count.
About 27 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.
Find it
Brooklyn Branch Library, 207 North Main Street, Brooklyn.
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 Jackson District Library branch.
New in Brooklyn? 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 $2.65 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Brooklyn cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $9.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $24M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $9.2M 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 45,628 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Brooklyn Branch Library is one branch of Jackson District Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 160,366 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 Brooklyn
Does Brooklyn have a public library?
Yes: Brooklyn Branch Library, 207 North Main Street, is a branch of Jackson District Library, which serves 160,366 people. The branch is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Jackson District 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 Brooklyn’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 9.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Brooklyn’s civic life grade?
B+ Brooklyn is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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.