John Williams House · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Mount Vernon’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Dr. Shaw Memorial Library serves Mount Vernon’s 2,395 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 3,656 visits.
What Mount Vernon’s library is like
Open only about 15 hours a week
Dr. Shaw Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 15 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Belgrade Public Library in Belgrade, next door, is open about 30 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Dr. Shaw Memorial Library serves 2,395 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 ↓
Mount Vernon out-borrows every town next door
At 4.6 loans per resident, Mount Vernon leads the four towns here. The closest is Readfield, at 4.5. Libraries next door ↓
Runs on less money than most
Dr. Shaw Memorial 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 Mount Vernon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mount Vernon is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns. Mount Vernon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Mount Vernon’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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Mount Vernon
7.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
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.
9.8%
9.8% of Mount Vernon’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 Mount Vernon’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.
Dr. Shaw Memorial Library serves 2,395 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
2,730 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
55 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 Mount Vernon last year.
Find it
Dr. Shaw Memorial Library, 344 Pond Road, Mount Vernon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Mount Vernon? 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 $3.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mount Vernon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $48K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $169K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $48K 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 1,029 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Mount Vernon borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Vernon | Dr. Shaw Memorial Library fine-free | 4.6 | 15 | A |
| Readfield | Readfield Community Library fine-free | 4.5 | 22 | B |
| Belgrade | Belgrade Public Library fine-free | 1.9 | 30 | C+ |
| Fayette | Underwood Memorial Library fine-free | 1.9 | 14 | C− |
| Vienna | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Chesterville | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Rome | 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 Mount Vernon
Does Mount Vernon have a public library?
Yes. Dr. Shaw Memorial Library, 344 Pond Road, serves Mount Vernon’s 2,395 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 15 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dr. Shaw 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 Mount Vernon’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Mount Vernon’s civic life grade?
A Mount Vernon is ahead of 93% 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 Mount Vernon.
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.