Frankfort Dam · Photo: DrStew82 · CC BY-SA 4.0Frankfort’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Waldo Peirce Reading Room serves Frankfort’s 1,253 residents. Last year it lent 1,673 books, movies and e-books and logged 961 visits.
What Frankfort’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
95% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 5%. What your card is worth ↓
Waldo Peirce Reading Room is used less than most libraries its size
Waldo Peirce Reading Room records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $22 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Open only about 14 hours a week
Waldo Peirce Reading Room keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Buck Memorial Library in Bucksport, next door, is open about 29 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Waldo Peirce Reading Room serves 1,253 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 ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Frankfort’s library lends 1.3 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Monroe at 2.2. Libraries next door ↓
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 Frankfort’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Frankfort is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($60K–$100K) 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 Frankfort
2.7 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.8%
11.8% of Frankfort’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 Frankfort’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Waldo Peirce Reading Room serves 1,253 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1,673 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 6,860 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
575 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
60 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 Frankfort last year.
Find it
Waldo Peirce Reading Room, 11a Main Road South, Frankfort.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Frankfort? 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 $1.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Frankfort cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $28K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $31K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $28K 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 334 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Frankfort ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe | Monroe Community Library fine-free | 2.2 | 16 | — graded with its twin city |
| Bucksport | Buck Memorial Library fine-free | 1.8 | 29 | A |
| Winterport | Winterport Memorial Library fine-free | 1.7 | 24 | B− |
| Frankfort | Waldo Peirce Reading Room fine-free | 1.3 | 14 | C |
| Prospect | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Swanville | 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.
- 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 Frankfort
Does Frankfort have a public library?
Yes. Waldo Peirce Reading Room, 11a Main Road South, serves Frankfort’s 1,253 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Waldo Peirce Reading Room 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 Frankfort’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Frankfort’s civic life grade?
C Frankfort is ahead of 33% 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 Frankfort.
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.