Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Lewiston’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Lewiston Public Library serves Lewiston’s 38,404 residents. Last year it lent 89K books, movies and e-books and logged 44K visits.
What Lewiston’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Lewiston Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Lewiston Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Today’s library there has 46,000 square feet. The building ↓
Programs are almost all for children
82% of the 416 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 5.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people Lewiston Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Lewiston Public Library holds 144,000 books and other items, but the average item went out about once every two years 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 Lewiston’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lewiston is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns, #122 of 143 in Maine. Lewiston’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$69K) 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 →
157 community nonprofits are registered in Lewiston
4.1 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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.4%
7.4% of Lewiston’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 Lewiston’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1978
Lewiston Public Library, 200 Lisbon Street, Lewiston.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lewiston? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Lewiston Public Library
Lewiston Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan 31, 1978. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Colonial Revival.
The Lewiston Public Library is a historic public Carnegie library at Park and Pine Street in Lewiston, Maine. They provide resources about topics regarding culture, education, and information needed for all children, teens, adults, seniors, families, and all organization in their city.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lewiston Public Library serves 38,404 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 34 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
89K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 144K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
14,275 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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 Lewiston last year.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lewiston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.8M 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 6,138 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lewiston ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. 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.
- 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 Lewiston
Does Lewiston have a public library?
Yes. Lewiston Public Library, 200 Lisbon Street, serves Lewiston’s 38,404 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lewiston 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 Lewiston’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Lewiston’s civic life grade?
C Lewiston is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns on civic life, #122 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 Lewiston.
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.