Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Buckfield’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Zadoc Long Free Library serves Buckfield’s 4,329 residents. Last year it lent 5,951 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,925 visits.
What Buckfield’s library is like
Zadoc Long Free Library is used less than most libraries its size
Zadoc Long Free Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $13 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Zadoc Long Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1994. Today’s library there has 2,144 square feet. The building ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 15% of the people Zadoc Long Free Library serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Zadoc Long Free Library spends $13 per resident, less than 93% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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.
What’s behind Buckfield’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Buckfield is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns. Buckfield is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Buckfield’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Buckfield
4.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.7%
7.7% of Buckfield’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 Buckfield’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1994
Zadoc Long Free Library, 5 Turner Street, Buckfield.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Buckfield? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Zadoc Long Free Library
Long, Zadoc, Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 24, 1994. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Shingle and Colonial Revival. It was listed as part of Maine Public Libraries MPS.
The Zadoc Long Free Library is the public library of Buckfield, Maine, United States. It is located at 5 Turner Street in a small wood-frame building designed by John Calvin Stevens and built in 1901. It was a gift to the town from Buckfield native John Davis Long in honor of his father Zadoc, and was the town's first library. The library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
More about the building →Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Zadoc Long Free Library serves 4,329 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
5,951 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
818 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
83 programs a year
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 Buckfield last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Buckfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $56K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $99K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $56K 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 634 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Buckfield ranks 3rd of 3 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.
- 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 Buckfield
Does Buckfield have a public library?
Yes. Zadoc Long Free Library, 5 Turner Street, serves Buckfield’s 4,329 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 30 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Zadoc Long Free Library 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 Buckfield’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 1.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Buckfield’s civic life grade?
B Buckfield is ahead of 61% 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 Buckfield.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.