Photo: Noah Salzman · CC BY-SA 4.0Casco’s library runs 53 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Casco Public Library serves Casco’s 5,578 residents. Last year it lent 15K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
The short version on Casco’s library
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people Casco Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
26% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 74%. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Casco Public Library logs about 74 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 4 public computers. That’s 4.8 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Casco Public Library holds 26,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. 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 Casco’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Casco is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns, #79 of 143 in Maine. Casco is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Casco’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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Casco
3.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.1%
9.1% of Casco’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 Casco’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.
Casco Public Library serves 5,578 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
15K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 26K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
2,002 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Casco last year.
Find it
Casco Public Library, 5 Leach Hill Road, Casco.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Casco? 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 $2.40 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Casco cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $134K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $322K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $134K 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 946 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Casco ranks 4th of 5 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.
- 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 Casco
Does Casco have a public library?
Yes. Casco Public Library, 5 Leach Hill Road, serves Casco’s 5,578 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 28 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Casco 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 Casco’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Casco’s civic life grade?
B Casco is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on civic life, #79 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 Casco.
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.