Photo: Mlaurenti at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Monroe Township’s library logs 4.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Monroe Twp Public Library/Middlesex serves Monroe Township’s 48,594 residents. Last year it lent 417K books, movies and e-books and logged 208K visits.
The short version on Monroe Township’s library
Programs draw a crowd
38,000 people came to the library’s 1,204 programs last year: 0.8 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 90% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Monroe Township invests in its library
Monroe Twp Public Library/Middlesex spends $97 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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 Monroe Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Monroe Township is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns, #250 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($81K–$135K) 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 →
170 community nonprofits are registered in Monroe Township
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 (28 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 15 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.9%
5.9% of Monroe 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 Monroe Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 12 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 Monroe Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Monroe Twp Public Library/Middlesex serves 48,594 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
A year at Monroe Township Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
417K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 151K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.2 times last year, on average.
77,402 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Monroe Township Public Library, 4 Municipal Plaza, Jamesburg.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Monroe 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 $1.43 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Monroe Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.7M 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 18,026 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Monroe Township ranks 2nd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cranbury Township | Cranbury Public Library fine-free | 9.1 | 57 | C+ |
| Monroe Township | Monroe Township Public Library fine-free | 8.6 | 63 | C+ |
| South Brunswick Township | So. Brunswick Pub. Lib. | 8.2 | 83 | C+ |
| Spotswood | Spotswood Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 43 | B− |
| Old Bridge Township | Old Bridge Public Library | 3.1 | 99 | C− |
| Manalapan Township | Monmouth County Library | — | 66 | C+ |
| Twin Rivers | Twin Rivers Branch Library | — | 40 | — graded as part of its town |
| East Windsor Township | Hickory Corner Road Branch | — | 42 | C− |
| Helmetta | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Millstone Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Renaissance at Monroe | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Monroe Twp Public Library/Middlesex 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 Monroe Township
Does Monroe Township have a public library?
Yes. Monroe Twp Public Library/Middlesex, 4 Municipal Plaza, serves Monroe Township’s 48,594 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Monroe Twp Public Library/Middlesex 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 Monroe Township’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 8.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Monroe Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Monroe Township is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns on civic life, #250 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 Monroe 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.