Photo: Cara Fealy Choate (w:Flickr user carabou) · CC BY 2.0Jonesport’s library runs 166 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Peabody Memorial Library serves Jonesport’s 1,709 residents. Last year it lent 16K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,854 visits.
What Jonesport’s library is like
Busy on a lean budget
Peabody Memorial Library spends $32 per resident, less than 79% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). It’s still borrowed from more than 76% of them. What your card is worth ↓
More library cards than residents
1,744 cards for 1,709 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Peabody Memorial Library serves 1,709 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 25 hours a week. 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 ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
37% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 63%. What your card is worth ↓
Above typical on nearly every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Peabody Memorial Library is above the middle on five of the six per-resident measures we compare, and close to it on the other, with three in the top 30%. No single number stands out, and none lags far behind. How it compares ↓
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 Jonesport’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Jonesport is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns. Jonesport is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Jonesport’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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Jonesport
6.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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.
8.2%
8.2% of Jonesport’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 Jonesport’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
16K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 15K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
1,521 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Peabody Memorial Library serves 1,709 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
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 Jonesport last year.
Find it
Peabody Memorial Library, 162 Main Street, Jonesport.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Jonesport? 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 $4.82 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jonesport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $54K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $260K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $54K 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 1,744 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonesport | Peabody Memorial Library fine-free | 9.6 | 25 | A− |
| Addison | Mayhew Library Assn fine-free | 0.5 | 9 | C+ |
| Jonesboro | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Machiasport | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Beals | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Roque Bluffs | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Jonesport
Does Jonesport have a public library?
Yes. Peabody Memorial Library, 162 Main Street, serves Jonesport’s 1,709 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Peabody Memorial 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 Jonesport’s library?
It logged 5.2 visits and lent 9.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Jonesport’s civic life grade?
A− Jonesport is ahead of 83% 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 Jonesport.
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.