Riverview House · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Vassalboro’s library runs 20 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Vassalboro Public Library serves Vassalboro’s 4,603 residents. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,668 visits.
The short version on Vassalboro’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
32% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 68%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people Vassalboro Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Vassalboro Public Library holds 30,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 6% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 85% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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.
What’s behind Vassalboro’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Vassalboro is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #109 of 143 in Maine. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Vassalboro’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($54K–$90K) 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Vassalboro
2.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: health.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.8%
9.8% of Vassalboro’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 Vassalboro’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Vassalboro Public Library serves 4,603 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 30K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
865 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
93 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 Vassalboro last year.
Find it
Vassalboro Public Library, 930 Bog Road, East Vassalboro.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Vassalboro? 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 $2.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Vassalboro cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $101K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $236K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $101K 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 772 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Vassalboro ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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 Vassalboro
Does Vassalboro have a public library?
Yes. Vassalboro Public Library, 930 Bog Road, serves Vassalboro’s 4,603 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Vassalboro Public 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 Vassalboro’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Vassalboro’s civic life grade?
C+ Vassalboro is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #109 of 143 in Maine. 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 Vassalboro.
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.