Dresden Town House · Photo: Iverjm · CC BY-SA 3.0Dresden’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Bridge Academy Public Library serves Dresden’s 1,796 residents. Last year it lent 5,113 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,681 visits.
What Dresden’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
84% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 16%. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Bridge Academy Public Library offered 0 programs last year, 0 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 18 hours a week
Bridge Academy Public Library keeps short hours: about 18 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Wiscasset Public Library in Wiscasset, next door, is open about 34 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Bridge Academy Public Library serves 1,796 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 ↓
Runs on less money than most
Bridge Academy Public Library spends $20 per resident, less than 91% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). 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 Dresden’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Dresden is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Dresden
4.9 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.
11.1%
11.1% of Dresden’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 Dresden’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Bridge Academy Public Library serves 1,796 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
5,113 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 12K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
50 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Dresden last year.
Find it
Bridge Academy Public Library, 44 Middle Road, Dresden.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Dresden? 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 $1.99 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dresden cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $36K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $73K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $36K 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 1,173 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Dresden ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wiscasset | Wiscasset Public Library fine-free | 3.3 | 34 | A− |
| Dresden | Bridge Academy Public Library fine-free | 2.8 | 18 | B |
| Richmond | Isaac F. Umberhine Public Library fine-free | 2.5 | 20 | C+ |
| Alna | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Woolwich | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Pittston | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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. Bridge Academy Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Dresden
Does Dresden have a public library?
Yes. Bridge Academy Public Library, 44 Middle Road, serves Dresden’s 1,796 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 18 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bridge Academy Public 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 Dresden’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Dresden’s civic life grade?
B Dresden is ahead of 59% 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 Dresden.
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.