Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Brookline’s library lends 5.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Brookline Public Library serves Brookline’s 5,851 residents. Last year it lent 40K books, movies and e-books and drew 4,079 people to its programs.
Brookline’s library, in brief
Every town next door borrows more
Brookline’s library lends 6.9 items per resident. Each of the four neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Townsend at 13. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Brookline Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
72% of the 267 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 3.7 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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 Brookline’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Brookline is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #42 of 126 in New Hampshire. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Brookline is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Brookline’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
The survey’s stand-in for Brookline’s 2024 visits is its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Brookline
3.0 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
13.2%
13.2% of Brookline’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical New Hampshire 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 Brookline’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Brookline Public Library serves 5,851 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
40K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 32K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
8,393 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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 Brookline last year.
Find it
Brookline Public Library, 16 Main Street, Brookline.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Brookline? 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 $1.84 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Brookline cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $353K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $650K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $353K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 2,805 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Brookline ranks 5th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Brookline Public Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate is its own, so we leave it out and never rank it.
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 Brookline
Does Brookline have a public library?
Yes. Brookline Public Library, 16 Main Street, serves Brookline’s 5,851 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brookline Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Brookline’s library?
It lent 6.9 items per resident in 2024 (print and digital) and ran 267 programs that drew 4,079 people. Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Brookline’s civic life grade?
B+ Brookline is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #42 of 126 in New Hampshire. 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 Brookline.
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.