Whitman Memorial Library · Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0Woodstock’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Whitman Memorial Library serves Woodstock’s 1,423 residents. Last year it lent 1,550 books, movies and e-books and logged 697 visits.
The short version on Woodstock’s library
Whitman Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Whitman Memorial Library records 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $16 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Open only about 12 hours a week
Whitman Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 12 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Bethel Library Assn. in Bethel, next door, is open about 27 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Whitman Memorial Library serves 1,423 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 ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Whitman Memorial Library offered 9 programs last year, 6.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Whitman Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1995. Today’s library there has 2,000 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 Woodstock’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Woodstock is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns. Woodstock’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($47K–$79K) 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 Woodstock
5.0 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.
8.3%
8.3% of Woodstock’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 Woodstock’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1995
Whitman Memorial Library, 28 South Main Street, Bryant Pond.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting.
New in Woodstock? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Whitman Memorial Library
Whitman Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan 12, 1995. It is significant for its architecture and education at the local level. Its architecture is described as Colonial Revival.
The Whitman Memorial Library is the public library of Woodstock, Maine. It is located at 28 South Main Street (Maine State Route 26) in the village of Bryant Pond, in a small yet architecturally distinctive Colonial Revival building built at the library's founding in 1910. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
More about the building →Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Whitman Memorial Library serves 1,423 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1,550 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
9 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 Woodstock last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.18 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Woodstock cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $23K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $27K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $23K 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 158 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Woodstock ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Paris | West Paris Public Library fine-free | 6.1 | 19 | B− |
| Bethel | Bethel Library Assn. fine-free | 2.5 | 27 | A |
| Woodstock | Whitman Memorial Library fine-free | 1.1 | 12 | C+ |
| Greenwood | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Sumner | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Peru | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- 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 Woodstock
Does Woodstock have a public library?
Yes. Whitman Memorial Library, 28 South Main Street, serves Woodstock’s 1,423 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 12 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Whitman Memorial Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Woodstock’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 1.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Woodstock’s civic life grade?
C+ Woodstock is ahead of 39% 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 Woodstock.
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.