Whitney Farm · Photo: Whitney Farm · CC BY-SA 4.0Appleton’s library runs 90 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial Library serves Appleton’s 1,447 residents. Last year it lent 2,632 print books and media and logged 3,276 visits.
Appleton’s library, in brief
Every town next door borrows more
Appleton’s library lends 1.8 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Union at 6.3. Libraries next door ↓
Open only about 13 hours a week
Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 13 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Ivan O. Davis-Liberty Library in Liberty, next door, is open about 31 hours a week. The building ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
45% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 55%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial Library serves 1,447 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Appleton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Appleton is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Appleton’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($40K–$67K) 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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Appleton
1.9 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.5%
10.5% of Appleton’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.0% in the typical Maine 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 Appleton’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial Library serves 1,447 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,632 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Appleton last year.
Find it
Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial Library, 2916 Sennebec Road, Appleton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Appleton? 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 $1.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Appleton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $41K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $52K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $41K 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 1,221 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Appleton ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Appleton
Does Appleton have a public library?
Yes. Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial Library, 2916 Sennebec Road, serves Appleton’s 1,447 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 13 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mildred Stevens Williams Memorial 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 Appleton’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 1.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Appleton’s civic life grade?
C+ Appleton is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Appleton.
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.