Photo: Josconklin · CC BY-SA 3.0Scotch Plains Township’s library lends 6.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Scotch Plains Public Library serves Scotch Plains Township’s 24,968 residents. Last year it lent 209K books, movies and e-books and logged 79K visits.
What stands out about Scotch Plains Township’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Scotch Plains Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Scotch Plains Township is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #167 of 466 in New Jersey. Scotch Plains Township’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
115 community nonprofits are registered in Scotch Plains Township
4.6 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.2%
8.2% of Scotch Plains 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 Scotch Plains Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 8 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 Scotch Plains Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Scotch Plains Public Library serves 24,968 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 70 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
209K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 84K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.8 times last year, on average.
56,299 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Scotch Plains Public Library, 1927 Bartle Avenue, Scotch Plains.
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 Scotch Plains 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 $1.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Scotch Plains Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.8M 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 9,036 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Scotch Plains Township ranks 2nd of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westfield | Westfield Memorial Library fine-free | 9.5 | 62 | B+ |
| Scotch Plains Township | Scotch Plains Public Library fine-free | 8.4 | 57 | B |
| Berkeley Heights Township | Berkeley Heights Free Public Library fine-free | 7.7 | 67 | B+ |
| Clark Township | Clark Public Library | 6.5 | 61 | A− |
| Fanwood | Fanwood Memorial Library | 5.3 | 53 | B+ |
| Plainfield | Plainfield Free Pub. Lib. | 0.8 | 60 | D |
| Watchung | Watchung Branch Library fine-free | — | 40 | B− |
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 Scotch Plains Township
Does Scotch Plains Township have a public library?
Yes. Scotch Plains Public Library, 1927 Bartle Avenue, serves Scotch Plains Township’s 24,968 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Scotch Plains Public 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 Scotch Plains Township’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 8.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Scotch Plains Township’s civic life grade?
B Scotch Plains Township is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #167 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 Scotch Plains 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.