Photo: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0Woodland Park’s library runs 69 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Alfred H. Baumann Library/West Paterso serves Woodland Park’s 13,484 residents. Last year it lent 35K books, movies and e-books and logged 22K visits.
What stands out about Woodland Park’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Woodland Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Woodland Park is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #318 of 466 in New Jersey. Woodland Park’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($74K–$124K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
64 community nonprofits are registered in Woodland Park
4.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.9%
5.9% of Woodland Park’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 Woodland Park’s residents live; 2022.
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 Woodland Park last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Alfred H. Baumann Library/West Paterso serves 13,484 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
35K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 40K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
10,454 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
West Paterson Free Pub. Lib., 44 Rifle Camp Road, W. Paterson.
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 Woodland Park? 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 $1.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Woodland Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $629K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $747K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $629K 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 4,924 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Woodland Park ranks 4th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Falls Township | Little Falls Public Library fine-free | 5.5 | 52 | C− |
| Clifton | Clifton Public Library | 4.7 | 60 | D |
| Totowa | Dwight D. Eisenhower Library fine-free | 2.9 | 46 | C |
| Woodland Park | West Paterson Free Pub. Lib. fine-free | 2.6 | 52 | C |
| Paterson | Paterson Free Public Library | 0.3 | 60 | D− |
| Great Notch | 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 Woodland Park
Does Woodland Park have a public library?
Yes. Alfred H. Baumann Library/West Paterso, 44 Rifle Camp Road, serves Woodland Park’s 13,484 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Alfred H. Baumann Library/West Paterso 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 Woodland Park’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Woodland Park’s civic life grade?
C Woodland Park is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #318 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 Woodland Park.
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.