Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Gloucester City’s library lends 1.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Gloucester City Library serves Gloucester City’s 11,484 residents. Last year it lent 22K books, movies and e-books and logged 33K visits.
The short version on Gloucester City’s library
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Gloucester City Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Three of the four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 9% of the people Gloucester City Library serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Gloucester City Library logs about 191 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 20 public computers. That’s 6.1 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Gloucester City Library holds 53,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. 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 Gloucester City’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Gloucester City is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns, #316 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Gloucester City’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($49K–$81K) 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 →
40 community nonprofits are registered in Gloucester City
3.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.9%
5.9% of Gloucester City’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 Gloucester City’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Gloucester City Library serves 11,484 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
A year at Gloucester City Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
22K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 53K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
2,568 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Gloucester City last year.
Find it
Gloucester City Library, 50 N. Railroad Avenue, Gloucester City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Gloucester City? 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 $1.05 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gloucester City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $536K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $561K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $536K 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 986 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Gloucester City ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camden | Collingswood Free Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 54 | D |
| Gloucester City | Gloucester City Library | 1.9 | — | C |
| Westville | Westville Public Library | 1.1 | 30 | C− |
| Haddon Township | Haddon Township Branch Library fine-free | — | 58 | B− |
| Philadelphia | Free Library of Philadelphia fine-free | — | 49 | D |
| Brooklawn | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Mount Ephraim | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
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 Gloucester City
Does Gloucester City have a public library?
Yes. Gloucester City Library, 50 N. Railroad Avenue, serves Gloucester City’s 11,484 residents (the survey’s count).
Is Gloucester City 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 Gloucester City’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Gloucester City’s civic life grade?
C Gloucester City is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on civic life, #316 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 Gloucester City.
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.