Photo: MICHAEL KAGDIS · CC BY-SA 3.0Winter Harbor’s library logs 7.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Winter Harbor Public Library serves Winter Harbor’s 474 residents. Last year it lent 3,516 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,581 visits.
What Winter Harbor’s library is like
More library cards than residents
800 cards for 474 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 ↓
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
93% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 7%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Winter Harbor Public Library serves 474 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 ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Winter Harbor Public Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, next door, is open about 41 hours a week. 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 Winter Harbor’s civic life grade
Winter Harbor 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 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Winter Harbor Public Library serves 474 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
3,516 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,728 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
561 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
32 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Winter Harbor Public Library, 18 Chapel Lane, Winter Harbor.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Winter Harbor? 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 $1.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Winter Harbor cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $47K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $64K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $47K 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 800 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Winter Harbor ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bar Harbor | Jesup Memorial Library fine-free | 8.7 | 41 | A+ |
| Cranberry Isles | Islesford Library fine-free | 8.5 | 13 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Winter Harbor | Winter Harbor Public Library fine-free | 7.4 | 20 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Gouldsboro | Dorcas Library fine-free | 3.1 | 19 | B |
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 Winter Harbor
Does Winter Harbor have a public library?
Yes. Winter Harbor Public Library, 18 Chapel Lane, serves Winter Harbor’s 474 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Winter Harbor 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 Winter Harbor’s library?
It logged 7.6 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Winter Harbor’s civic life grade?
Winter Harbor 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 Winter Harbor.
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.