Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Harrison Township’s library runs 33 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Gloucester County Library serves 114,460 people in and around Harrison Township. Last year it lent 429K books, movies and e-books and logged 247K visits.
The short version on Harrison Township’s library
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Gloucester County Library ran 3,786 programs last year, about 73 a week. That’s 33 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9. People show up: 66,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 58% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 51% of similar-size libraries. 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; Gloucester County Library serves 114,460 people in and around Harrison Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Harrison Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Harrison Township is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #192 of 466 in New Jersey. Harrison Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Harrison Township’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
46 community nonprofits are registered in Harrison Township
3.4 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.3%
8.3% of Harrison 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 Harrison Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 29 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Gloucester County Library serves 114,460 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Gloucester County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
429K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
107,290 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Gloucester County Library, 389 Wolfert Station Road, Mullica Hill.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Gloucester County Library branch.
New in Harrison 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 $1.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harrison Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.6M 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 70,719 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harrison Township | Gloucester County Library | — | 59 | B− |
| Mullica Hill | Gloucester County Library | — | 59 | — graded as part of its town |
| Glassboro | Glassboro Branch Library | — | 53 | C− |
| Elk Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Richwood | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Woolwich Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| South Harrison Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Mantua Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| East Greenwich Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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.
- System-wide. Gloucester County Library serves 114,460 people in and around Harrison Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harrison Township.
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 Harrison Township
Does Harrison Township have a public library?
Yes. Gloucester County Library, 389 Wolfert Station Road, serves 114,460 people in and around Harrison Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gloucester County 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 Harrison Township’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 3.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Harrison Township’s civic life grade?
B− Harrison Township is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on civic life, #192 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 Harrison 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.