Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0Crisfield’s library is a branch of Somerset County Library, which lends less per resident than 66% of systems its size
Crisfield’s library is the Crisfield Branch, a branch of Somerset County Library, which serves 24,584 people and lent 80K items last year.
What stands out about Crisfield Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Crisfield’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Crisfield is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns, #36 of 67 in Maryland. Crisfield is graded on two of the three inputs. Crisfield’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
21 community nonprofits are registered in Crisfield
8.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (7 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.
3.9%
3.9% of Crisfield’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.2% in the typical Maryland 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 Crisfield’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Somerset County Library serves 24,584 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Somerset County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
80K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
13,267 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Crisfield Branch, 100 Collins Street, Crisfield.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Somerset County Library branch.
New in Crisfield? 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 $1.15 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Crisfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 5,183 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Crisfield Branch is one branch of Somerset County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 24,584 people it serves.
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 Crisfield
Does Crisfield have a public library?
Yes: Crisfield Branch, 100 Collins Street, is a branch of Somerset County Library, which serves 24,584 people. The branch is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Somerset County 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 Crisfield’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 3.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Crisfield’s civic life grade?
B− Crisfield is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns on civic life, #36 of 67 in Maryland. 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 Crisfield.
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.