Soldiers Memorial Library · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Hiram’s library lends 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Soldiers Memorial Library serves Hiram’s 1,690 residents. Last year it lent 1,282 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,646 visits.
Hiram’s library, in brief
Soldiers Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Soldiers Memorial Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $17 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Soldiers Memorial Library serves 1,690 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 ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
36% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 64%. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 19 hours a week
Soldiers Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 19 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Soldiers Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2008. Today’s library there has 2,050 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 Hiram’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Hiram is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Hiram
5.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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.
10.4%
10.4% of Hiram’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 Hiram’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 2008
Soldiers Memorial Library, 85 Main Street, Hiram.
No late fees. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Hiram? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Soldiers Memorial Library
Soldiers Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct 16, 2008. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Bungalow. It was listed as part of Maine Public Libraries MPS.
The Soldiers Memorial Library is the public library of Hiram, Maine. It is located at 85 Main Street in the center of the small town, in a small concrete-block building erected in 1915–16. It is architecturally significant as one only two library buildings in the state built using ornamental concrete blocks, and was for this reason listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Soldiers Memorial Library serves 1,690 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1,282 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 4,929 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
122 programs a year
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 Hiram last year.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hiram cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $29K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $24K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $29K 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 530 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Hiram ranks 6th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornish | Bonney Memorial Library fine-free | 6.8 | 21 | B− |
| Sebago | Spaulding Memorial Library fine-free | 1.9 | 22 | B+ |
| Denmark | Denmark Public Library fine-free | 1.6 | 15 | B |
| Brownfield | Brownfield Public Library fine-free | 1.1 | 16 | C+ |
| Baldwin | Brown Memorial Library - Baldwin fine-free | 1.0 | 15 | B+ |
| Hiram | Soldiers Memorial Library fine-free | 0.8 | 19 | B |
| Parsonsfield | Kezar Falls Circulating Library fine-free | 0.4 | 15 | A+ |
| Kezar Falls | Kezar Falls Circulating Library fine-free | 0.4 | 15 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Porter | 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 Hiram
Does Hiram have a public library?
Yes. Soldiers Memorial Library, 85 Main Street, serves Hiram’s 1,690 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 19 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Soldiers Memorial Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Hiram’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 0.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Hiram’s civic life grade?
B Hiram is ahead of 57% 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 Hiram.
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.