Photo: Nyttend · Public domainPalermo’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Palermo Community Library serves Palermo’s 1,628 residents. Last year it lent 1,892 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,078 visits.
What Palermo’s library is like
Palermo Community Library is used less than most libraries its size
Palermo Community Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $8 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
62% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 38%. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 14 hours a week
Palermo Community Library keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Ivan O. Davis-Liberty Library in Liberty, next door, is open about 31 hours a week. The building ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Palermo Community Library offered 2 programs last year, 1.2 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Palermo Community Library serves 1,628 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 ↓
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 Palermo’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Palermo is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. Palermo’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Palermo
9.5 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.7%
9.7% of Palermo’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 Palermo’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.
Palermo Community Library serves 1,628 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
1,892 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,932 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
2 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 Palermo last year.
Find it
Palermo Community Library, 2789 Route 3, Palermo.
No late fees. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Palermo? 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 $2.51 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Palermo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $12K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $31K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $12K 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 678 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Palermo ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberty | Ivan O. Davis-Liberty Library fine-free | 5.7 | 31 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Washington | Gibbs Library fine-free | 4.9 | 17 | B |
| Palermo | Palermo Community Library fine-free | 1.2 | 14 | B |
| China | South China Public Library fine-free | 0.5 | 7 | B− |
| Somerville | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Windsor | None of its own | — | — | A |
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 Palermo
Does Palermo have a public library?
Yes. Palermo Community Library, 2789 Route 3, serves Palermo’s 1,628 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Palermo Community Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Palermo’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Palermo’s civic life grade?
B Palermo is ahead of 62% 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 Palermo.
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.