Photo: Freeholdman12 · CC BY-SA 4.0Plainsboro Township’s library logs 8.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Plainsboro Free Public Library serves Plainsboro Township’s 24,084 residents. Last year it lent 283K books, movies and e-books and logged 201K visits.
What Plainsboro Township’s library is like
Plainsboro Township uses its library more than almost any town its size
Plainsboro Free Public Library logs 8.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 10 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 57% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 94% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 27 items per child in Plainsboro Township last year. Kids & programs ↓
Top 10% in New Jersey for kids’ borrowing
Plainsboro Township ranks #11 of 215 New Jersey towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
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 Plainsboro Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Plainsboro Township is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #168 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
90 community nonprofits are registered in Plainsboro Township
3.7 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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 14 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.1%
6.1% of Plainsboro 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 Plainsboro Township’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 98 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Plainsboro Free Public Library serves 24,084 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
283K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 112K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.3 times last year, on average.
30,149 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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 Plainsboro Township last year.
Find it
Plainsboro Free Pub. Lib., 9 Van Doren Drive, Plainsboro.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Plainsboro 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 $2.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Plainsboro Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2M budget.
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 10,698 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Plainsboro Township ranks 2nd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princeton | Princeton Public Library | 19.2 | 72 | A |
| Plainsboro Township | Plainsboro Free Pub. Lib. | 11.7 | 56 | B |
| Cranbury Township | Cranbury Public Library fine-free | 9.1 | 57 | C+ |
| South Brunswick Township | So. Brunswick Pub. Lib. | 8.2 | 83 | C+ |
| Monmouth Junction | So. Brunswick Pub. Lib. | 8.2 | 83 | — graded as part of its town |
| West Windsor Township | West Windsor Branch Library | — | 42 | A− |
| East Windsor Township | Hickory Corner Road Branch | — | 42 | C− |
| Princeton Junction | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Princeton Meadows | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Plainsboro Township
Does Plainsboro Township have a public library?
Yes. Plainsboro Free Public Library, 9 Van Doren Drive, serves Plainsboro Township’s 24,084 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
How busy is Plainsboro Township’s library?
It logged 8.3 visits and lent 11.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Plainsboro Township’s civic life grade?
B Plainsboro Township is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on civic life, #168 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 Plainsboro 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.