Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Lincoln Park’s library runs 47 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Lincoln Park Public Library serves Lincoln Park’s 10,915 residents. Last year it lent 51K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
What stands out about Lincoln Park’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lincoln Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lincoln Park is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns, #348 of 466 in New Jersey. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Lincoln Park’s 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 ($93K–$154K) 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 →
27 community nonprofits are registered in Lincoln Park
2.5 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.8%
7.8% of Lincoln Park’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 Lincoln Park’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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 Lincoln Park last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Lincoln Park Public Library serves 10,915 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: books & media on the shelves. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
51K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
12,589 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Lincoln Park Public Library, 12 Boonton Turnpike, Lincoln Park.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lincoln Park? 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 $1.67 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lincoln Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $542K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $903K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $542K 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 3,428 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lincoln Park ranks 6th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinnelon | Kinnelon Public Library | 9.5 | 51 | A− |
| Montville Township | Montville Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 9.4 | 57 | B |
| Pequannock Township | Pequannock Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 7.9 | 53 | A |
| Pompton Plains | Pequannock Twsp. Pub. Lib. | 7.9 | 53 | — graded as part of its town |
| Wayne Township | Wayne Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 67 | B+ |
| Lincoln Park | Lincoln Park Public Library | 4.7 | 52 | C− |
| Fairfield Township | Fairfield Free Public Library | 4.2 | 60 | B− |
| Towaco | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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.
- Not reported for 2024: books & media on the shelves. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Lincoln Park 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 Lincoln Park
Does Lincoln Park have a public library?
Yes. Lincoln Park Public Library, 12 Boonton Turnpike, serves Lincoln Park’s 10,915 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lincoln Park Public 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 Lincoln Park’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 4.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Lincoln Park’s civic life grade?
C− Lincoln Park is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on civic life, #348 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 Lincoln Park.
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.