Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Pennsauken Township’s library lends 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Pennsauken Free Public Library serves Pennsauken Township’s 37,074 residents. Last year it lent 38K books, movies and e-books and logged 49K visits.
What Pennsauken Township’s library is like
Pennsauken Free Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Pennsauken Free Public Library records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Pennsauken Township’s library lends 1 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Cherry Hill Township at 4.5. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Pennsauken Free Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Six of the seven libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
52% of the 399 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 123 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Pennsauken Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pennsauken Township is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns, #401 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Pennsauken Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($66K–$110K) 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 →
121 community nonprofits are registered in Pennsauken Township
3.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (64 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.7%
3.7% of Pennsauken 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 Pennsauken Township’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Pennsauken Free Public Library serves 37,074 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 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
38K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
7,452 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 Pennsauken Township last year.
Find it
Pennsauken Free Pub. Lib., 5605 Crescent Boulevard, Pennsauken.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Pennsauken Township? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pennsauken Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $614K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 11,972 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pennsauken Township ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. 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+ |
| Camden | Collingswood Free Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 54 | D |
| Collingswood | Collingswood Free Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 54 | A+ |
| Pennsauken Township | Pennsauken Free Pub. Lib. | 1.0 | — | D |
| Cinnaminson Township | Cinnaminson Branch Library fine-free | — | 55 | B− |
| Maple Shade Township | Maple Shade Branch fine-free | — | 53 | C |
| Merchantville | Merchantville Reading Center fine-free | — | 26 | D− |
| Philadelphia | Free Library of Philadelphia fine-free | — | 49 | D |
| Palmyra | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Cherry Hill Mall | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Golden Triangle | 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.
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 Pennsauken Township
Does Pennsauken Township have a public library?
Yes. Pennsauken Free Public Library, 5605 Crescent Boulevard, serves Pennsauken Township’s 37,074 residents (the survey’s count).
Is Pennsauken Free 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 Pennsauken Township’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 1.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Pennsauken Township’s civic life grade?
D Pennsauken Township is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns on civic life, #401 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 Pennsauken 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.