Lower Cape Branch
Villas’s library is the Lower Cape Branch, a branch of Cape May County Library, which serves 82,791 people and lent 585K items last year.
What stands out about Lower Cape Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
About 15 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
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.
Cape May County Library serves 82,791 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Villas cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $11M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $11M 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 74,194 cardholders ÷ 12.
A year at Cape May County Library
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Cape May County Library system. The library’s own count.
Find it
Lower Cape Branch, 2600 Bay Shore Road, Villas.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Cape May County Library branch.
New in Villas? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
585K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
200,873 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villas | Lower Cape Branch fine-free | — | 57 |
| Lower | Lower Cape Branch fine-free | — | 57 |
| Middle | Cape May County Library fine-free | — | 70 |
| North Cape May | 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.
- System-wide. Lower Cape Branch is one branch of Cape May County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 82,791 people it serves.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Villas.
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.