Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Lubec’s library logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Lubec Memorial Library serves Lubec’s 1,555 residents. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
What Lubec’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
94% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 6%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Lubec Memorial Library serves 1,555 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 31 hours a week. 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 ↓
People come to Lubec Memorial Library a lot
Lubec Memorial Library logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 92% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 8.1 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Lubec Memorial Library logs about 83 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 4 public computers. That’s 19 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Lubec Memorial Library holds 24,000 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Lubec’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lubec is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Lubec
10.2 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.
12.2%
12.2% of Lubec’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 Lubec’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Lubec Memorial Library serves 1,555 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
14K 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.
1,288 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Lubec last year.
Find it
Lubec Memorial Library, 55 Water Street, Lubec.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lubec? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.77 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lubec cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $86K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $325K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $86K 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 1,293 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lubec borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. 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 Lubec
Does Lubec have a public library?
Yes. Lubec Memorial Library, 55 Water Street, serves Lubec’s 1,555 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 31 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lubec 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 Lubec’s library?
It logged 11.4 visits and lent 9.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Lubec’s civic life grade?
A+ Lubec is among the top 1% 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 Lubec.
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. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.