Morris Plains Station · Photo: Robert Mortell · CC BY-SA 3.0Morris Plains’ library lends 5.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Morris Plains Library serves Morris Plains’s 6,153 residents. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
What’s behind Morris Plains’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Morris Plains is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #262 of 466 in New Jersey. Morris Plains’ count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($116K–$194K) 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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in Morris Plains
4.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.6%
6.6% of Morris Plains’ 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 Morris Plains’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Morris Plains Library serves 6,153 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 22K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
15,080 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Morris Plains last year.
Find it
Morris Plains Library, 77 Glenbrook Road, Morris Plains.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Morris Plains? 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 $5.09 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Morris Plains cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $145K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $740K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $145K 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 3,149 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Morris Plains borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morris Plains | Morris Plains Library | 8.1 | 41 | C+ |
| Parsippany-Troy Hills Township | Parsippany-Troy Hills P.L. fine-free | 7.2 | 66 | C+ |
| Hanover Township | Whippanong Lib/Hanover Twsp. | 4.1 | 47 | B− |
| Morris Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Cedar Knolls | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Morris Plains 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 Morris Plains
Does Morris Plains have a public library?
Yes. Morris Plains Library, 77 Glenbrook Road, serves Morris Plains’ 6,153 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Morris Plains 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 Morris Plains’ library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Morris Plains’ civic life grade?
C+ Morris Plains is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #262 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 Morris Plains.
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.