Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Damariscotta’s library logs 10 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Skidompha Public Library serves Damariscotta’s 6,089 residents. Last year it lent 67K books, movies and e-books and logged 63K visits.
What Damariscotta’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
84% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 16%. What your card is worth ↓
Damariscotta out-borrows every town next door
At 11 loans per resident, Damariscotta leads the four towns here. The closest is Bremen, at 3. Libraries next door ↓
Damariscotta uses its library more than almost any town its size
Skidompha Public Library logs 10 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 8.9 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 88% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 50% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 64 items per child in Damariscotta last year. Kids & programs ↓
A place to get online
Skidompha Public Library logs about 145 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 10 public computers. That’s 8.7 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Damariscotta’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Damariscotta is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Damariscotta is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Damariscotta’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
46 community nonprofits are registered in Damariscotta
21.0 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.2%
12.2% of Damariscotta’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 Damariscotta’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 29 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: spending. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Skidompha Public Library serves 6,089 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
67K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 37K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
13,143 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 Damariscotta last year.
Find it
Skidompha Public Library, 184 Main Street, Damariscotta.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Damariscotta? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Damariscotta cardholder borrows.
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 4,550 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Damariscotta borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. 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.
- Not reported for 2024: spending. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Damariscotta
Does Damariscotta have a public library?
Yes. Skidompha Public Library, 184 Main Street, serves Damariscotta’s 6,089 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Skidompha 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 Damariscotta’s library?
It logged 10.4 visits and lent 11.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Damariscotta’s civic life grade?
A+ Damariscotta is among the top 1% 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 Damariscotta.
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.