Photo: Adam Moss · CC BY-SA 2.0Beverly’s library logs 1.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Beverly Free Library serves Beverly’s 2,499 residents. Last year it lent 11K print books and media and logged 4,442 visits.
Beverly’s library, in brief
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
49% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 51%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Beverly Free Library serves 2,499 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 23 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Runs on less money than most
Beverly Free Library spends $20 per resident, less than 91% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). What your card is worth ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Beverly’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Beverly is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns, #406 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Beverly’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Beverly Free Library spends $20 per resident, against a typical $54 for libraries its size, and its 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($67K–$112K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Beverly
2.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.4%
3.4% of Beverly’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 Beverly’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Beverly Free Library serves 2,499 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
11K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
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, 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 Beverly last year.
Find it
Beverly-Edgewater Park Free Library, 441 Cooper St., Beverly.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Beverly? 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 $3.81 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Beverly cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $51K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $193K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $51K 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 534 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beverly | Beverly-Edgewater Park Free Library fine-free | 4.5 | 23 | D |
| Delanco Township | Delanco Public Libary fine-free | 2.6 | 31 | D− |
| Bensalem Township | Bensalem Library | — | 57 | D− |
| Edgewater Park Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Beverly Free Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Beverly
Does Beverly have a public library?
Yes. Beverly Free Library, 441 Cooper St., serves Beverly’s 2,499 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Beverly Free 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 Beverly’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 4.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Beverly’s civic life grade?
D Beverly is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns on civic life, #406 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 Beverly.
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.