Photo: Ted Kerwin · CC BY 2.0Southport’s library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Southport Memorial Library serves Southport’s 638 residents. Last year it lent 8,617 print books and media and logged 5,000 visits.
What Southport’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,183 cards for 638 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 ↓
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Southport Memorial Library ran 146 programs last year, about 3 a week. That’s 229 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Southport Memorial Library serves 638 residents with about 2 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 ↓
Southport is a town of borrowers
Southport Memorial Library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Southport invests in its library
Southport Memorial Library spends $186 per resident a year, about three times the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (92%) comes from local taxes. 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 Southport’s civic life grade
Southport 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 →
146 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Southport Memorial Library serves 638 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
8,617 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 37K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Southport Memorial Library, 1032 Hendricks Hill Road, Southport.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Southport? 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 $1.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Southport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $119K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $148K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $119K 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 1,183 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Southport borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southport | Southport Memorial Library fine-free | 13.5 | 25 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Boothbay Harbor | Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library fine-free | 5.3 | 37 | A |
| Georgetown | Laura E. Richards Library fine-free | 1.8 | 12 | B− |
| Boothbay | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Southport Memorial Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Southport
Does Southport have a public library?
Yes. Southport Memorial Library, 1032 Hendricks Hill Road, serves Southport’s 638 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Southport 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 Southport’s library?
It logged 7.8 visits and lent 13.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Southport’s civic life grade?
Southport 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 Southport.
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.