Photo: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0Bernards Township’s library runs 37 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Bernards Township Library serves Bernards Township’s 27,830 residents. Last year it lent 352K books, movies and e-books and logged 148K visits.
What Bernards Township’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 21 items per child in Bernards Township last year. Kids & programs ↓
Bernards Township uses its library more than almost any town its size
Bernards Township Library logs 5.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 9.3 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 88% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in New Jersey for borrowing
Bernards Township ranks #21 of 234 New Jersey towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 9.3 items per resident, more than at 88% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Twice the programs of a typical library its size
Bernards Township Library ran 1,016 programs last year, about 20 a week. That’s 37 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. People show up: 31,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.4 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. It’s 27% 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.
What’s behind Bernards Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bernards Township is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #119 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
138 community nonprofits are registered in Bernards Township
4.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 9 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.4%
7.4% of Bernards Township’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.2% in the typical New Jersey 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 Bernards Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 8 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 Bernards Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Bernards Township Library serves 27,830 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 125 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
352K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 121K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.1 times last year, on average.
93,504 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Bernards Towhship Library, 32 South Maple Avenue, Basking Ridge.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bernards Township? 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 $2.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bernards Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.6M 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 12,458 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Bernards Township ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bernardsville | Bernardsville Public Library | 15.7 | 51 | A |
| Long Hill Township | Long Hill Township Free Public Library fine-free | 13.1 | 48 | A |
| Bernards Township | Bernards Towhship Library | 12.6 | 54 | B+ |
| Basking Ridge | Bernards Towhship Library | 12.6 | 54 | — graded as part of its town |
| Harding Township | Harding Township Library | 6.5 | 38 | B− |
| Warren Township | Warren Township Branch Library fine-free | — | 58 | B |
| Millington | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Lyons | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Far Hills | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Liberty Corner | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| The Hills | 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 Bernards Township
Does Bernards Township have a public library?
Yes. Bernards Township Library, 32 South Maple Avenue, serves Bernards Township’s 27,830 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bernards Township 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 Bernards Township’s library?
It logged 5.3 visits and lent 12.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Bernards Township’s civic life grade?
B+ Bernards Township is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on civic life, #119 of 466 in New Jersey. 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 Bernards Township.
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.