Photo: Nomadic Lass from Havre, MT, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Harlem’s library runs 57 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Harlem Public Library serves 2,754 people in and around Harlem. Last year it lent 6,884 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,774 visits.
What stands out about Harlem Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Harlem’s civic life grade
Harlem isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Harlem Public Library serves 2,754 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Harlem Public Library system. The library’s own count.
41% of borrowing is digital
6,884 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,793 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Harlem Public Library, 37 1st Avenue SE, Harlem.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Harlem Public Library branch.
New in Harlem? 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 $1.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harlem cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $115K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $128K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $115K 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 782 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Harlem Public Library serves 2,754 people in and around Harlem, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harlem.
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 Harlem
Does Harlem have a public library?
Yes. Harlem Public Library, 37 1st Avenue SE, serves 2,754 people in and around Harlem (the survey’s count) and is open about 30 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Harlem 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 Harlem’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Harlem’s civic life grade?
Harlem isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Harlem.
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.