Photo: Greencan7 · CC BY-SA 4.0Kittery’s library lends 8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Rice Public Library serves Kittery’s 10,784 residents. Last year it lent 87K print books and media and logged 46K visits.
The short version on Kittery’s library
The library is a National Register landmark
Rice Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. Today’s library there has 15,500 square feet. The building ↓
Top 10% in Maine for kids’ borrowing
Kittery ranks #8 of 97 Maine towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
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 Kittery’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Kittery is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns, #68 of 143 in Maine. Kittery’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 →
48 community nonprofits are registered in Kittery
4.6 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 (1 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.
7.3%
7.3% of Kittery’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 Kittery’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Rice Public Library serves 10,784 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 53 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
87K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 74K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
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 Kittery last year.
A National Register landmark since 1979
Rice Public Library, 8 Wentworth Street, Kittery.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Kittery? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Rice Public Library
Rice Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct 1, 1979. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque Revival.
The Rice Public Library is the public library of Kittery, Maine. It is located at 8 Wentworth Street (Maine State Route 103) in the central Kittery Foreside village, in an architecturally distinguished Romanesque Revival building built in 1889 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, with a large annex just across the street at 2 Walker Street.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.24 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kittery cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $642K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $642K 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 3,907 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Kittery ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth | Portsmouth Public Library fine-free | 16.6 | 65 | A− |
| New Castle | New Castle Public Library fine-free | 12.6 | 24 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Rye | Rye Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 54 | A |
| Kittery | Rice Public Library fine-free | 8.0 | 31 | B |
| York | York Public Library fine-free | 7.0 | 47 | A− |
| Eliot | William Fogg Public Library fine-free | 3.0 | 49 | B+ |
| South Eliot | William Fogg Public Library fine-free | 3.0 | 49 | — graded as part of its town |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Kittery
Does Kittery have a public library?
Yes. Rice Public Library, 8 Wentworth Street, serves Kittery’s 10,784 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 31 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rice 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 Kittery’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 8.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Kittery’s civic life grade?
B Kittery is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns on civic life, #68 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 Kittery.
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.