Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0Guilford’s library lends 7.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Guilford Memorial Library serves Guilford’s 1,308 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,234 visits.
What Guilford’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,537 cards for 1,308 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Programs are almost all for children
81% of the 77 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Guilford Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986. Today’s library there has 3,400 square feet. 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 Guilford’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Guilford is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns. Guilford’s 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Guilford
6.9 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.
4.6%
4.6% of Guilford’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 Guilford’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Guilford Memorial Library serves 1,308 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
1,016 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Guilford last year.
A National Register landmark since 1986
Guilford Memorial Library, 4 Library Street, Guilford.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Guilford? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Guilford Memorial Library
Guilford Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jul 31, 1986. It is significant for its architecture at the local level.
The Guilford Memorial Library is the public library of Guilford, Maine, USA. It is located at the junction of Library and Water Streets, in a small architecturally distinguished Renaissance Revival structure designed by Frank A. Patterson and built in 1908 with funding assistance from Andrew Carnegie. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.08 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Guilford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $87K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $180K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $87K 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 1,537 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Guilford borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilford | Guilford Memorial Library fine-free | 8.3 | 40 | B |
| Dover-Foxcroft | Thompson Free Library fine-free | 8.1 | 39 | A |
| Parkman | Harvey Memorial Library fine-free | 1.2 | 28 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Sangerville | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Willimantic | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Abbot | 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 Guilford
Does Guilford have a public library?
Yes. Guilford Memorial Library, 4 Library Street, serves Guilford’s 1,308 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Guilford Memorial 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 Guilford’s library?
It logged 4.8 visits and lent 8.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Guilford’s civic life grade?
B Guilford is ahead of 58% 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 Guilford.
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.