Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Calais’ library runs 51 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Calais Free Library serves Calais’s 3,126 residents. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
Calais’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
5,770 cards for 3,126 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Calais Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2001. Today’s library there has 4,680 square feet. The building ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Calais Free Library holds 43,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 7% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 81% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 Calais’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Calais is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #75 of 143 in Maine. Calais’ 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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in Calais
9.0 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 (4 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.
5.5%
5.5% of Calais’ 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 Calais’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Calais Free Library serves 3,126 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 43K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
897 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Calais last year.
A National Register landmark since 2001
Calais Free Library, 9 Union Street, Calais.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Calais? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Calais Free Library
Calais Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Apr 12, 2001. It is significant for its architecture and education at the local level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque. It was listed as part of Maine Public Libraries MPS.
Calais Free Library is the public library in Calais, Maine, United States. It is located at 9 Union Street, at the edge of the city's business district, in an architecturally distinguished Richardsonian Romanesque building designed by Arthur H. Vinal and completed in 1893, with a major addition in 1984-85. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also home to an art gallery.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.28 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Calais cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $171K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $220K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $171K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 5,770 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calais | Calais Free Library | 4.3 | 36 | B |
| Baring plantation | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Robbinston | 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.
- 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 Calais
Does Calais have a public library?
Yes. Calais Free Library, 9 Union Street, serves Calais’ 3,126 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Calais Free Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Calais’ library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Calais’ civic life grade?
B Calais is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #75 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 Calais.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.