Porter-Bell-Brackley Estate · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Strong’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Strong Public Library serves Strong’s 1,126 residents. Last year it lent 2,288 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,049 visits.
What Strong’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
58% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 42%. What your card is worth ↓
Strong Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Strong Public Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $21 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Open only about 14 hours a week
Strong Public Library keeps short hours: about 14 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
Strong Public Library serves 1,126 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
Strong Public Library spends $21 per resident, less than 90% 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 Strong’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Strong is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns. Strong’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Strong Public Library spends $21 per resident, against a typical $54 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($36K–$59K) 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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Strong
4.5 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.6%
5.6% of Strong’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 Strong’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.
Strong Public Library serves 1,126 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
2,288 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 6,678 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
318 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
27 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Strong last year.
Find it
Strong Public Library, 14 South Main St., Strong.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Strong? 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 $1.54 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Strong cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $23K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $36K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $23K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 558 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Strong 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− |
| Strong | Strong Public Library | 2.0 | 14 | C− |
| New Vineyard | New Vineyard Public Library fine-free | 1.4 | 16 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Avon | 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 Strong
Does Strong have a public library?
Yes. Strong Public Library, 14 South Main St., serves Strong’s 1,126 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Strong Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Strong’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Strong’s civic life grade?
C− Strong is ahead of 20% 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 Strong.
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.