Photo: Back2reality07 · CC BY-SA 3.0New Sharon’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Jim Ditzler Memorial Library serves New Sharon’s 1,547 residents. Last year it lent 2,410 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,330 visits.
What New Sharon’s library is like
Jim Ditzler Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Jim Ditzler Memorial Library records 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $20 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Open only about 17 hours a week
Jim Ditzler Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 17 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Farmington Public Library in Farmington, next door, is open about 36 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Jim Ditzler Memorial Library serves 1,547 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
Jim Ditzler 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 New Sharon’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, New Sharon is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($48K–$80K) 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in New Sharon
3.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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.
7.5%
7.5% of New Sharon’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 New Sharon’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.
Jim Ditzler Memorial Library serves 1,547 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
2,410 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
50 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 New Sharon last year.
Find it
Jim Ditzler Memorial Library, 37 Library Road, New Sharon.
No late fees. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in New Sharon? 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 $1.31 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average New Sharon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $30K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $40K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $30K 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 517 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
New Sharon ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farmington | Farmington Public Library fine-free | 5.0 | 36 | A− |
| New Sharon | Jim Ditzler Memorial Library fine-free | 1.6 | 17 | C |
| Mercer | Shaw Public Library - Mercer fine-free | 1.1 | 15 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Chesterville | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Industry | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Starks | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Vienna | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| 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 New Sharon
Does New Sharon have a public library?
Yes. Jim Ditzler Memorial Library, 37 Library Road, serves New Sharon’s 1,547 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 17 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Jim Ditzler Memorial Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is New Sharon’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 1.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is New Sharon’s civic life grade?
C New Sharon is ahead of 26% 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 New Sharon.
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.