Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domainCorinna’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Stewart Free Library serves Corinna’s 2,240 residents. Last year it lent 2,355 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,529 visits.
Corinna’s library, in brief
Stewart Free Library is used less than most libraries its size
Stewart Free Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $26 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Stewart Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974. Today’s library there has 1,944 square feet. The building ↓
A small-town library
Stewart Free Library serves 2,240 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Stewart Free Library offered 16 programs last year, 7.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Stewart Free Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Abbott Memorial Library in Dexter, next door, is open about 39 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Corinna’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Corinna is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$71K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Corinna
2.7 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
30.7%
30.7% of Corinna’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 Corinna’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1974
Stewart Free Library, 8 Levi Stewart Drive, Corinna.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Stewart Free Library
Stewart Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jul 30, 1974. It is significant for its politics and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Late Victorian.
The Stewart Free Library is a historic municipal building at the junction of Nokomis and St. Albans Roads in Corinna, Maine. Built in 1895–1898, it is an imposing Victorian brick building of unusual sophistication for a small rural community. It presently houses the town's library and municipal offices. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
More about the building →Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Stewart Free Library serves 2,240 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
2,355 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
16 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Corinna last year.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Corinna cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $58K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $39K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $58K 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 543 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Corinna ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newport | Newport Public Library fine-free | 1.7 | 37 | B+ |
| Dexter | Abbott Memorial Library | 1.1 | 39 | B+ |
| Corinna | Stewart Free Library | 1.1 | 20 | C+ |
| Exeter | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| St. Albans | None of its own | — | — | B |
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 Corinna
Does Corinna have a public library?
Yes. Stewart Free Library, 8 Levi Stewart Drive, serves Corinna’s 2,240 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Stewart Free Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Corinna’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Corinna’s civic life grade?
C+ Corinna is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Corinna.
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.