Collins and Pancoast Hall · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Merchantville’s library is a branch of Camden County Library, which lends less per resident than 81% of systems its size
Merchantville’s library is the Merchantville Reading Center, a branch of Camden County Library, which serves 324,221 people and lent 761K items last year.
What stands out about Merchantville Reading Center
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Merchantville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Merchantville is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns, #443 of 466 in New Jersey. Merchantville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($68K–$113K) 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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Merchantville
0.8 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.7%
4.7% of Merchantville’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 Merchantville’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Camden County Library serves 324,221 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 34 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Camden County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
761K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
199,777 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 19 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.
Find it
Merchantville Reading Center, 130 South Centre St., Merchantville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Camden County Library branch.
New in Merchantville? 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 $1.08 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Merchantville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $11M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $12M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $11M 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 107,168 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Hill Township | Cherry Hill Free Public Library | 4.5 | 55 | C+ |
| Pennsauken Township | Pennsauken Free Pub. Lib. | 1.0 | — | D |
| Merchantville | Merchantville Reading Center fine-free | — | 26 | D− |
| Cherry Hill Mall | 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.
- System-wide. Merchantville Reading Center is one branch of Camden County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 324,221 people it serves.
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 Merchantville
Does Merchantville have a public library?
Yes: Merchantville Reading Center, 130 South Centre St., is a branch of Camden County Library, which serves 324,221 people. The branch is open about 26 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Camden County 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 Merchantville’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Merchantville’s civic life grade?
D− Merchantville is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns on civic life, #443 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 Merchantville.
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.