Photo: Ken Gallager · CC BY-SA 3.0Pembroke’s library runs 101 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Pembroke Library serves Pembroke’s 790 residents. Last year it lent 2,020 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,273 visits.
What Pembroke’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
98% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 2%. What your card is worth ↓
More library cards than residents
948 cards for 790 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 ↓
Programs are almost all for children
100% of the 80 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 49 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 15 hours a week
Pembroke Library keeps short hours: about 15 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Lubec Memorial Library in Lubec, next door, is open about 31 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Pembroke Library serves 790 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 Pembroke’s civic life grade
Pembroke isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Pembroke Library serves 790 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.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,020 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 10K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
About 2 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 Pembroke last year.
Find it
Pembroke Library, 221 Old County Road, Pembroke.
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 $2.22 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pembroke cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $17K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $38K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $17K 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 948 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pembroke ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lubec | Lubec Memorial Library fine-free | 9.0 | 31 | A+ |
| Pembroke | Pembroke Library fine-free | 2.6 | 15 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Dennysville | Lincoln Memorial Library - Dennysville | 0.4 | 8 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Perry | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Charlotte | 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 Pembroke
Does Pembroke have a public library?
Yes. Pembroke Library, 221 Old County Road, serves Pembroke’s 790 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 15 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pembroke Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Pembroke’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Pembroke’s civic life grade?
Pembroke isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Pembroke.
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.