Bass Harbor Memorial Library · Photo: Suekoehler · CC BY-SA 4.0Tremont’s library lends 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Bass Harbor Memorial Library serves Tremont’s 1,546 residents. Last year it lent 2,131 print books and media and logged 2,814 visits.
What Tremont’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Tremont’s library lends 1.4 items per resident. Each of the five neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Southwest Harbor at 32. Libraries next door ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Bass Harbor Memorial Library sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Bass Harbor Memorial Library serves 1,546 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 37 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Bass Harbor Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009. Today’s library there has 2,100 square feet. The building ↓
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 Tremont’s civic life grade
On library visits and community nonprofits, Tremont is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns. Tremont is graded on two of the three inputs. Tremont’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($67K–$111K) 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Tremont
5.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
A National Register landmark since 2009
Bass Harbor Memorial Library, 89 Bernard Road, Bernard.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Tremont? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Bass Harbor Memorial Library
Bass Harbor Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug 5, 2009. It is significant for its architecture, education and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival.
The Bass Harbor Memorial Library is the public library of Tremont, Maine. It is located at 89 Bernard Road in the village of Bernard, in an historically significant Colonial Revival building built in 1922 with funds donated by Tremont native Rhoda M. Watson. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Bass Harbor Memorial Library serves 1,546 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,131 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 9,576 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.
63 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 Tremont last year.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tremont cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $99K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $36K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $99K 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 605 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Tremont ranks 6th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Harbor | Southwest Harbor Public Library fine-free | 31.7 | 43 | A+ |
| Mount Desert | Northeast Harbor Library fine-free | 18.7 | 53 | A+ |
| Frenchboro | Frenchboro Public Library fine-free | 18.3 | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Brooklin | Friend Memorial Public Library fine-free | 13.7 | 33 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Blue Hill | Blue Hill Public Library fine-free | 13.5 | 53 | B+ |
| Tremont | Bass Harbor Memorial Library fine-free | 1.4 | 37 | C+ |
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.
- 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 Tremont
Does Tremont have a public library?
Yes. Bass Harbor Memorial Library, 89 Bernard Road, serves Tremont’s 1,546 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bass Harbor 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 Tremont’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 1.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Tremont’s civic life grade?
C+ Tremont is ahead of 44% 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 Tremont.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.