US Post Office-Old Town Main · Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougtone/8181884923/ · CC BY-SA 2.0Old Town’s library runs 32 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Old Town Public Library serves 10,540 people in and around Old Town. Last year it lent 55K books, movies and e-books and logged 38K visits.
What’s behind Old Town’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Old Town is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns, #67 of 143 in Maine. Old Town is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Old Town’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
27 community nonprofits are registered in Old Town
3.6 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.1%
9.1% of Old Town’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 Old Town’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Old Town Public Library serves 10,540 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Old Town Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
55K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
6,971 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Old Town Public Library, 46 Middle Street, Old Town.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Old Town Public Library branch.
New in Old Town? 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 $1.97 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Old Town cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $458K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $902K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $458K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 4,594 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. 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.
- System-wide. Old Town Public Library serves 10,540 people in and around Old Town, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Old Town.
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 Old Town
Does Old Town have a public library?
Yes. Old Town Public Library, 46 Middle Street, serves 10,540 people in and around Old Town (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Old Town Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Old Town’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Old Town’s civic life grade?
B Old Town is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns on civic life, #67 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 Old Town.
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.