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Verona Park BoasthousePhoto: Soccera2g at English Wikipedia · Public domain
Verona Free Public Library

Verona Township’s library logs 7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size

Verona Free Public Library serves Verona Township’s 14,572 residents. Last year it lent 113K books, movies and e-books and logged 102K visits.

17 Gould Street, Verona 07044 · about 51 hours a week
ACivic lifeAhead of 87% of U.S. towns · #45 of 466 in New Jersey. Library visits, nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
113K
7.8 per resident
Visits a year
102K
7 per resident · Above typical (3.1)
Programs & events
776
about 15 a week · 14K attended
Cardholders
40%
5,804 cards
Open
51 hrs
a week

What stands out about Verona Township’s library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Verona Township’s civic life grade

On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Verona Township is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns, #45 of 466 in New Jersey. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.

A
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Verona Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 87%
FewerMore
New Jersey towns we grade (466)Ahead of 91%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $121K–$202K (1,484)Ahead of 88%

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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

73 community nonprofits are registered in Verona Township

5.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture50.34 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation151.03 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans110.76 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services100.69 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education120.83 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health40.28 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals40.28 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other120.83 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (6 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.

Volunteering

9.3%

9.3% of Verona 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 Verona Township’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · Kids & programs

About 7 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.

Schools in Verona Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5218
Ages 6–11150
Teens139
Adults265
All ages4
Little ones
4.2

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

Kids’ books
12

children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Verona Township last year.

14K
people at programs
776
programs
How it compares

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.

Visits per resident 7 visits · typical 3.1Top 10%
Borrowing per resident 5.9 print items · typical 3.9Higher than 70%
Digital borrowing 1.8 e-items · typical 1.1Higher than 71%
Kids’ borrowing 2.8 kids’ items · typical 1.8Higher than 71%
Program attendance 1 attendees · typical 0.4Higher than 85%
Programs offered 53.3 per 1,000 residents · typical 24Higher than 89%
Cardholders 40% of residents · typical 40%Higher than 50%
Spending $71 per resident · typical $43Higher than 79%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Ranked in NJ#42Most-used librariesof 234 towns
#73Most library borrowingof 234 towns
#100Best libraries for kidsof 215 towns
Size group

Verona Free Public Library serves 14,572 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 43 items go out

Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.

102K
visits
7 per resident
113K
loans, print + digital
7.8 per resident
776
programs & events
14K attended
5,804
library cards
40% of people served
Every open hour43items borrowed
Every week266people at a program
Every day27Wi-Fi sessions
8 staff (full-time equivalent)9 public computers56K books & media on the shelves
What people borrow

Almost half the print loans are kids’ books

113K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

113Kloans
Books & media (adults) 40%Kids’ books & media 37%E-books, audio & streaming 24%
How hard the shelves work
1.5×

Each of the 56K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.

From your couch

26,845 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

The building

Find it

Verona Free Public Library, 17 Gould Street, Verona.

51
hours open a week
14,000
square feet
56K
books & media
With a card

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 Verona Township? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.76 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Verona Township cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$348
a year at retail prices · $29 a month

Who pays for it
$71 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1M.

Local taxes 95%State 1%Gifts & other 4%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 5,804 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Verona Township ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Montclair TownshipMontclair Public Library fine-free9.452A
Verona TownshipVerona Free Public Library fine-free7.851A
Cedar Grove TownshipCedar Grove Free Public Library fine-free6.950C+
West Orange TownshipWest Orange Free Pub. Lib. fine-free4.860C+
North CaldwellNone of its own——B−
Essex FellsNone of its own——C+

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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • Visits are a typical-week estimate. Verona Free Public 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 Verona Township

Does Verona Township have a public library?

Yes. Verona Free Public Library, 17 Gould Street, serves Verona Township’s 14,572 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Verona 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 Verona Township’s library?

It logged 7.0 visits and lent 7.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is Verona Township’s civic life grade?

A Verona Township is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns on civic life, #45 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 Verona Township.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.