Summit Playhouse · Photo: Jim.henderson · Public domainSummit’s library logs 8.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Summit Free Public Library serves Summit’s 22,719 residents. Last year it lent 300K books, movies and e-books and logged 192K visits.
Summit’s library, in brief
Summit uses its library more than almost any town its size
Summit Free Public Library logs 8.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 11 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 92% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in New Jersey for borrowing
Summit ranks #17 of 234 New Jersey towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 11 items per resident, more than at 92% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 52% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 23 items per child in Summit last year. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
Summit Free Public Library is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 89 items go out. The building ↓
Summit invests in its library
Summit Free Public Library spends $119 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (97%) 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 Summit’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Summit is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns, #9 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
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 →
158 community nonprofits are registered in Summit
7.0 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 (18 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.9%
9.9% of Summit’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 Summit’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 89 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.
Summit Free Public Library serves 22,719 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
300K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 132K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
50,759 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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 Summit last year.
Find it
Summit Free Public Library, 75 Maple Street, Summit.
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 Summit? 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 $1.72 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Summit cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $2.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.7M 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 18,299 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Summit ranks 3rd of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millburn Township | Millburn Free Public Library fine-free | 19.7 | 63 | A− |
| Chatham | Chatham Joint Free Public Library fine-free | 19.3 | 59 | A |
| Summit | Summit Free Public Library fine-free | 13.2 | 64 | A |
| New Providence | New Providence Memorial Lib. fine-free | 10.2 | 57 | A |
| Berkeley Heights Township | Berkeley Heights Free Public Library fine-free | 7.7 | 67 | B+ |
| Mountainside | Mountainside Free Public Library fine-free | 6.2 | 52 | A |
| Springfield Township | Springfield Free Pub. Lib. | 6.1 | 56 | B+ |
| Short Hills | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Chatham Township | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
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 Summit
Does Summit have a public library?
Yes. Summit Free Public Library, 75 Maple Street, serves Summit’s 22,719 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Summit Free 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 Summit’s library?
It logged 8.5 visits and lent 13.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Summit’s civic life grade?
A Summit is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns on civic life, #9 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 Summit.
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.