Photo: Jared Kofsky/placenj.com · CC BY-SA 4.0Westwood’s library logs 7.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Westwood Free Public Library serves Westwood’s 11,282 residents. Last year it lent 107K books, movies and e-books and logged 84K visits.
What stands out about Westwood’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Westwood’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Westwood is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns, #90 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 →
49 community nonprofits are registered in Westwood
4.4 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.0%
8.0% of Westwood’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 Westwood’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 37 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.
Westwood Free Public Library serves 11,282 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
107K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 45K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.8 times last year, on average.
25,349 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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 Westwood last year.
Find it
Westwood Free Public Library, 49 Park Avenue, Westwood.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Westwood? 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 $2.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Westwood cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $751K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $751K 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 5,601 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Westwood ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsdale | Hillsdale Free Public Library | 13.7 | 53 | B+ |
| River Vale Township | River Vale Public Library | 10.3 | 58 | B |
| Westwood | Westwood Free Public Library | 9.5 | 55 | A− |
| Washington Township | Wash. Twp Pub Lib/Westwood fine-free | 8.5 | 59 | B |
| Emerson | Emerson Public Library | 6.9 | 45 | 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 Westwood
Does Westwood have a public library?
Yes. Westwood Free Public Library, 49 Park Avenue, serves Westwood’s 11,282 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Westwood 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 Westwood’s library?
It logged 7.4 visits and lent 9.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Westwood’s civic life grade?
A− Westwood is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on civic life, #90 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 Westwood.
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.