Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Franklin’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Franklin Library serves Franklin’s 1,607 residents. Last year it lent 1,518 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,143 visits.
Franklin’s library, in brief
Franklin Library is used less than most libraries its size
Franklin Library records 0.7 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: $9 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
59% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 41%. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 12 hours a week
Franklin Library keeps short hours: about 12 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Franklin Library serves 1,607 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 ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Franklin Library offered 14 programs last year, 8.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
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 Franklin’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Franklin is ahead of 63% 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Franklin
6.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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.
12.8%
12.8% of Franklin’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 Franklin’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.
Franklin Library serves 1,607 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
1,518 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 4,144 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
14 programs a year
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 Franklin last year.
Find it
Franklin Library, 13 Main Street, Franklin.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Franklin? 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 $1.91 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Franklin cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $14K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $28K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $14K 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 363 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. 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 Franklin
Does Franklin have a public library?
Yes. Franklin Library, 13 Main Street, serves Franklin’s 1,607 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 12 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Franklin Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Franklin’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 0.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Franklin’s civic life grade?
B Franklin is ahead of 63% 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 Franklin.
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.