Lewis Street Branch
Lewis Street Branch serves 68,364 people in and around East Franklin. Last year it lent 325K books, movies and e-books and logged 75K visits.
Every hour the doors are open, about 48 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Close to typical for its size
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S. A tiny town’s library always looks busier per person, so it’s only compared with its own size.
library systems for visits per resident.
Lewis Street Branch serves 68,364 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
325K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 156K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
80,334 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 13 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.67 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average East Franklin cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.1M 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 24,935 cardholders ÷ 12.
Find it
Lewis Street Branch, 429 Lewis Street, Somerset.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in East Franklin? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
East Franklin borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Franklin | Lewis Street Branch | 4.8 | 26 |
| Franklin | Franklin Twp. Pub. Lib./Somerset | 4.8 | 61 |
| New Brunswick | New Brunswick Free Pub. Lib. | 0.7 | 58 |
| Somerset | None of its own | — | — |
| Voorhees | None of its own | — | — |
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.
About these numbers
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Hours are an average. The survey reports a building’s public hours for the whole year. We divide by the weeks it was open, so check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
- Compared by size. “Similar-size” means libraries serving about as many people, nationwide. Per-resident numbers always flatter the smallest towns, so they’re never compared with big cities.
- 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.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in East Franklin.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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.