Bates, Asa, Memorial Chapel · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Fairfield’s library runs 56 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Lawrence Public Library serves Fairfield’s 6,540 residents. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 10K visits.
What Fairfield’s library is like
The library is a National Register landmark
Lawrence Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974. Today’s library there has 3,694 square feet. The building ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Lawrence Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people Lawrence Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Lawrence Public Library holds 24,000 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 Fairfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Fairfield is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns, #112 of 143 in Maine. 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 ($48K–$80K) 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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Fairfield
3.5 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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.9%
8.9% of Fairfield’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 Fairfield’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1974
Lawrence Public Library, 33 Lawrence Avenue, Fairfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Fairfield? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Lawrence Library
Lawrence Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec 31, 1974. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque Revival.
The Lawrence Library is the public library of Fairfield, Maine. It is located at 33 Lawrence Avenue, in an architecturally distinguished Romanesque Revival building designed by William R. Miller and completed in 1901. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
More about the building →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.
Lawrence Public Library serves 6,540 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 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 24K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
1,260 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 Fairfield last year.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fairfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $236K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $212K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $236K 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 1,168 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Fairfield ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skowhegan | Skowhegan Free Public Library fine-free | 2.6 | 42 | B− |
| Fairfield | Lawrence Public Library | 2.0 | 40 | C+ |
| Norridgewock | Norridgewock Public Library fine-free | 1.1 | 24 | C− |
| Clinton | Brown Memorial Library - Clinton fine-free | 0.9 | 32 | C− |
| Benton | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Smithfield | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Lawrence 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 Fairfield
Does Fairfield have a public library?
Yes. Lawrence Public Library, 33 Lawrence Avenue, serves Fairfield’s 6,540 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lawrence Public 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 Fairfield’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Fairfield’s civic life grade?
C+ Fairfield is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns on civic life, #112 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 Fairfield.
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.