Valley Lodge · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Baldwin’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin serves Baldwin’s 1,581 residents. Last year it lent 1,571 print books and media and logged 1,361 visits.
Baldwin’s library, in brief
Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin is used less than most libraries its size
Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $27 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Programs are almost all for children
92% of the 50 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 46 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 15 hours a week
Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin keeps short hours: about 15 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin serves 1,581 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 ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
34% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 66%. What your card is worth ↓
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 Baldwin’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Baldwin is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns. Baldwin is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Baldwin’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Baldwin
3.4 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.4%
10.4% of Baldwin’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 Baldwin’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin serves 1,581 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.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1,571 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
50 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 Baldwin last year.
Find it
Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin, 2 Norton Place, East Baldwin.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Baldwin cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $43K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $25K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $43K 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 882 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Baldwin ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornish | Bonney Memorial Library fine-free | 6.8 | 21 | B− |
| Sebago | Spaulding Memorial Library fine-free | 1.9 | 22 | B+ |
| Limington | Davis Memorial Library fine-free | 1.9 | 29 | C |
| Baldwin | Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin fine-free | 1.0 | 15 | B+ |
| Hiram | Soldiers Memorial Library fine-free | 0.8 | 19 | B |
| Steep Falls | Steep Falls Library fine-free | 0.2 | 28 | — graded as part of its town |
| Standish | Richville Library fine-free | 0.1 | 7 | 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 Baldwin
Does Baldwin have a public library?
Yes. Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin, 2 Norton Place, serves Baldwin’s 1,581 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 15 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Baldwin’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 1.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Baldwin’s civic life grade?
B+ Baldwin is ahead of 69% 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 Baldwin.
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.