Photo: Rickyrab at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Fair Lawn’s library logs 6.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library serves Fair Lawn’s 34,927 residents. Last year it lent 395K books, movies and e-books and logged 212K visits.
The short version on Fair Lawn’s library
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 73% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 22 items per child in Fair Lawn last year. Kids & programs ↓
People come to Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library a lot
Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library logs 6.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 7.9 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in New Jersey for kids’ borrowing
Fair Lawn ranks #21 of 215 New Jersey towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
Programs draw a crowd
35,000 people came to the library’s 1,169 programs last year: 1 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 95% of similar-size libraries. 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 91% of similar-size libraries. It’s 30% 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 Fair Lawn’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Fair Lawn is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #191 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 →
115 community nonprofits are registered in Fair Lawn
3.2 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 (39 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 10 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.6%
6.6% of Fair Lawn’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 Fair Lawn’s residents live; 2022.
About 13 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 Fair Lawn 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.
Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library serves 34,927 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 121 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
395K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 110K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.5 times last year, on average.
119,904 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library, 10-01 Fair Lawn Avenue, Fair Lawn.
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 Fair Lawn? 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 $2.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fair Lawn cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.9M 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 19,504 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Fair Lawn ranks 3rd of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paramus | Paramus Public Library fine-free | 19.1 | 68 | A− |
| Glen Rock | Glen Rock Public Library | 13.4 | 54 | A+ |
| Fair Lawn | Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library fine-free | 11.3 | 63 | B− |
| Hawthorne | Louis Bay 2nd Library & Comm. Ctr. | 6.1 | 61 | C |
| Saddle Brook Township | Saddle Brook Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 4.8 | 59 | D |
| Rochelle Park Township | Rochelle Park Public Library | 3.0 | 49 | C |
| Elmwood Park | Elmwood Park Free Public Library | 2.8 | 58 | D− |
| Paterson | Paterson Free Public Library | 0.3 | 60 | 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.
- 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 Fair Lawn
Does Fair Lawn have a public library?
Yes. Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library, 10-01 Fair Lawn Avenue, serves Fair Lawn’s 34,927 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Maurice M. Pine Free 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 Fair Lawn’s library?
It logged 6.1 visits and lent 11.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Fair Lawn’s civic life grade?
B− Fair Lawn is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on civic life, #191 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 Fair Lawn.
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.