Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Bath’s library logs 8.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Patten Free Library serves 15,590 people in and around Bath. Last year it lent 122K books, movies and e-books and logged 139K visits.
What Bath’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
69% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 31%. What your card is worth ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Patten Free Library logs 8.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 95% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 6.8 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
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; Patten Free Library serves 15,590 people in and around Bath, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Bath’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bath is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns, #10 of 143 in Maine. Bath is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Bath’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
79 community nonprofits are registered in Bath
9.0 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.2%
11.2% of Bath’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 Bath’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 53 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Patten Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Patten Free Library serves 15,590 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
122K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
16,526 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Patten Free Library, 33 Summer Street, Bath.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Patten Free Library branch.
New in Bath? 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 $1.94 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bath cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 11,128 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brunswick | Curtis Memorial Library fine-free | 11.3 | 61 | A+ |
| Topsham | Topsham Public Library fine-free | 9.7 | 54 | A− |
| Phippsburg | Albert F. Totman Library fine-free | 4.4 | 38 | B+ |
| Bowdoinham | Bowdoinham Public Library fine-free | 3.2 | 16 | B |
| Bath | Patten Free Library fine-free | — | 44 | A+ |
| West Bath | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Woolwich | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Arrowsic | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Patten Free Library serves 15,590 people in and around Bath, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bath.
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 Bath
Does Bath have a public library?
Yes. Patten Free Library, 33 Summer Street, serves 15,590 people in and around Bath (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Patten Free 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 Bath’s library?
It logged 8.9 visits and lent 7.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Bath’s civic life grade?
A+ Bath is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns on civic life, #10 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 Bath.
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.