Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Bowdoinham’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Bowdoinham Public Library serves Bowdoinham’s 3,185 residents. Last year it lent 10K books, movies and e-books and logged 5,000 visits.
What Bowdoinham’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
58% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 42%. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 16 hours a week
Bowdoinham Public Library keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Topsham Public Library in Topsham, next door, is open about 54 hours a week. 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.
What’s behind Bowdoinham’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bowdoinham is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #71 of 143 in Maine. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Bowdoinham
5.4 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.3%
10.3% of Bowdoinham’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 Bowdoinham’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Bowdoinham Public Library serves 3,185 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
10K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
2,782 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
79 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 Bowdoinham last year.
Find it
Bowdoinham Public Library, 13a School Street, Bowdoinham.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bowdoinham? 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 $2.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bowdoinham cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $74K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $161K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $74K 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 1,790 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Bowdoinham ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Bowdoinham Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Bowdoinham
Does Bowdoinham have a public library?
Yes. Bowdoinham Public Library, 13a School Street, serves Bowdoinham’s 3,185 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bowdoinham 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 Bowdoinham’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 3.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Bowdoinham’s civic life grade?
B Bowdoinham is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #71 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 Bowdoinham.
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.