Photo: Anewt72690 · CC BY-SA 3.0Blue Hill’s library logs 14 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Blue Hill Public Library serves Blue Hill’s 6,829 residents. Last year it lent 92K books, movies and e-books and logged 97K visits.
What Blue Hill’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
87% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 13%. What your card is worth ↓
Blue Hill uses its library more than almost any town its size
Blue Hill Public Library logs 14 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 12 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 94% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More library cards than residents
6,960 cards for 6,829 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 43% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 66 items per child in Blue Hill last year. Kids & programs ↓
Blue Hill invests in its library
Blue Hill Public Library spends $119 per resident a year, about three times the typical $43 for a library its size. 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.
What’s behind Blue Hill’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Blue Hill is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #42 of 143 in Maine. Blue Hill’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
54 community nonprofits are registered in Blue Hill
19.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
15.2%
15.2% of Blue Hill’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 Blue Hill’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 33 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Blue Hill Public Library serves 6,829 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
92K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 41K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
12,544 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
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 Blue Hill last year.
2 places to borrow in Blue Hill
Blue Hill Public Library, 5 Parker Point Road, Blue Hill.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Blue Hill? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Blue Hill
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.89 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Blue Hill cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $812K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $812K 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 6,960 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Blue Hill ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Desert | Northeast Harbor Library fine-free | 18.7 | 53 | A+ |
| Brooklin | Friend Memorial Public Library fine-free | 13.7 | 33 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Blue Hill | Blue Hill Public Library fine-free | 13.5 | 53 | B+ |
| Tremont | Bass Harbor Memorial Library fine-free | 1.4 | 37 | C+ |
| Surry | None of its own | — | — | A+ |
| Sedgwick | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Penobscot | None of its own | — | — | A |
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 Blue Hill
Does Blue Hill have a public library?
Yes. Blue Hill Public Library, 5 Parker Point Road, serves Blue Hill’s 6,829 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Blue Hill 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 Blue Hill’s library?
It logged 14.2 visits and lent 13.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Blue Hill’s civic life grade?
B+ Blue Hill is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on civic life, #42 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 Blue Hill.
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.