Where the Shore's Young Readers Begin

Where the Shore's Young Readers Begin

On the corner of First and Grand in Asbury Park, one of the oldest shore-town public libraries in New Jersey has been opening its doors since 1878 — and this fall, some of its youngest patrons have a brand-new program of their own. The Asbury Park Public Library is welcoming babies and toddlers (ages 0–2) to Baby Laptime, a weekly early-literacy program that arrived this season as part of the library's expanded early-childhood programming. It is a small, warm detail — and it sits inside an institution with 148 years of roots.

A library with a 148-year memory

• Traces its origins to November 23, 1878, when Helen M. Bradley, wife of city founder James A. Bradley, presided over the formation of the Asbury Park and Ocean Grove Library Association.
• James Bradley donated the two building lots at the corner of First and Grand Avenues; the library was incorporated as a free municipal public library in 1901.
• Its collection now exceeds 100,000 holdings, and it operates independently of the Monmouth County library system — with digital resources through hoopla and JerseyClicks statewide databases.

The new early-literacy season

• Baby Laptime runs every Monday from 1:00–1:30 p.m. for children ages 0–2 and their caregivers — songs, rhymes, interactive play, and the early building blocks of reading.
• No registration required: caregivers simply bring their little one and join. It is also a place for young families to meet other local households with kids in the same age range.
• Programs like this sit beside the library's broader calendar — storytimes, the Bradley Room's adult programs, and seasonal events that make the building a regular part of town life.

A library that keeps doing more than lending books

• Offers notary services and — uniquely for a New Jersey library — a program to borrow Asbury Park beach badges, supported through the AP Community Beach Badge Fund.
• Has served as the home for decades of the Bruce Springsteen fan collection, which grew from a few hundred donated items into roughly 15,000 documents now housed at Monmouth University's Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music.
• Hosts public programs across the calendar — from community food connection events to free playmaking workshops — keeping the building a working civic space, not just a quiet one.

Why it matters locally

Early-literacy programs like Baby Laptime are quiet infrastructure: they do not make headlines, but they shape whether a child's first regular visit to a building is a library. For a shore town like Asbury Park — where families spend months on the property and then return year-round — a library that meets a family at the 0–2 stage has a long runway of goodwill. That is exactly what this institution has spent 148 years building. A free, no-registration Monday morning in the Bradley Room is a small thing on any single week. Across a generation of families, it is how a shore community stays connected to its own story.

How to get involved

• Bring a baby (0–2) to Baby Laptime — Mondays, 1:00–1:30 p.m., at 500 First Avenue. No registration needed. Questions: kvanderwende@asburyparklibrary.org or 732-774-4221.
• Use the library's early-childhood calendar — storytimes and family programs run year-round; check the calendar at asburyparklibrary.org.
• Borrow a beach badge — the library's unique AP Community Beach Badge Fund program lets families borrow Asbury Park beach badges for the season.
• Support the library's public mission — families and local businesses help sustain free programs like these; membership and giving inquiries go to the library office at 732-774-4221.

How Love of Humanity supports this work

Love of Humanity is a Monmouth 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works alongside institutions like these — not in place of them, but beside them. Where the Asbury Park Public Library has met families at every stage for 148 years, we focus on making sure the shore's generosity has the same kind of continuity: a clear path from a family's gift to a verifiable local outcome. If the library's story has moved you, the same warm logic applies to where your giving goes. Support Love of Humanity · Stripe: buy.stripe.com. Board leader, foundation director, head of school, or family-office trustee reading this? We build co-branded family education with Monmouth institutions — partnerships@donatetoloveofhumanity.com.

This roundup is editorial. No fees were paid. Love of Humanity is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.