Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Jefferson Township’s library runs 32 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Jefferson Township Public Library serves Jefferson Township’s 20,538 residents. Last year it lent 111K books, movies and e-books and logged 40K visits.
What stands out about Jefferson Township’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Jefferson Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Jefferson Township is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #281 of 466 in New Jersey. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($90K–$150K) 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 →
66 community nonprofits are registered in Jefferson Township
3.2 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.3%
8.3% of Jefferson 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 Jefferson Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Jefferson Township Public Library serves 20,538 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
111K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 47K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.7 times last year, on average.
32,859 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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 Jefferson Township last year.
Find it
Jefferson Twsp. Pub. Lib., 1031 Weldon Road, Oak Ridge.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Jefferson 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 $1.73 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jefferson Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $989K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $989K budget.
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 7,964 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Jefferson Township ranks 5th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sparta Township | Sparta Public Library | 11.1 | 62 | A |
| Rockaway Township | Rockaway Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 7.2 | 62 | C |
| Roxbury Township | Roxbury Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 57 | B |
| West Milford Township | West Milford Twsp. Library | 5.7 | 59 | A− |
| Jefferson Township | Jefferson Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 5.4 | 72 | C |
| Oak Ridge | Jefferson Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 5.4 | 72 | — graded as part of its town |
| Mount Arlington | Mount Arlington Pub. Lib. | 4.1 | 44 | D |
| Lake Hopatcong | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Newfoundland | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Hopatcong | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Hardyston Township | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Jefferson Township Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Jefferson Township
Does Jefferson Township have a public library?
Yes. Jefferson Township Public Library, 1031 Weldon Road, serves Jefferson Township’s 20,538 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 72 hours a week, averaged over the year.
How busy is Jefferson Township’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 5.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Jefferson Township’s civic life grade?
C Jefferson Township is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #281 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 Jefferson 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.