Photo: The original uploader was Rangeley at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0Rangeley’s library logs 8.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Rangeley Public Library serves 1,918 people in and around Rangeley. Last year it lent 12K books, movies and e-books and logged 17K visits.
The short version on Rangeley’s library
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
57% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 43%. What your card is worth ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Rangley Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Today’s library there has 8,272 square feet. The building ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
1,880 cards for 1,918 people, or 98%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
66% of the 122 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 49 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Rangeley Public Library serves 1,918 people in and around Rangeley, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Rangeley’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rangeley is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Rangeley is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Rangeley near the top nationally; Rangeley’s count of community nonprofits ranks 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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Rangeley
23.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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.
12.3%
12.3% of Rangeley’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 Rangeley’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rangeley Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Rangeley Public Library serves 1,918 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
12K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,155 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, 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.
A National Register landmark since 1978
Rangeley Public Library, 7 Lake Street, Rangeley.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Rangeley Public Library branch.
New in Rangeley? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Rangley Public Library
Rangley Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jul 12, 1978. It is significant for its social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque Revival.
The Rangeley Public Library is located at 7 Lake Street in Rangeley, Maine. The library is privately owned by the non-profit Rangeley Library Association, and is open to the general public. It is located in an architecturally distinguished Romanesque Revival building designed by New York City architect Ambrose Walker and built in 1909, with a major addition in 2002.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.15 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rangeley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $182K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $210K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $182K 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 1,880 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rangeley | Rangeley Public Library fine-free | — | 33 | A+ |
| Dallas plantation | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Rangeley plantation | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Sandy River plantation | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Rangeley Public Library serves 1,918 people in and around Rangeley, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Rangeley.
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 Rangeley
Does Rangeley have a public library?
Yes. Rangeley Public Library, 7 Lake Street, serves 1,918 people in and around Rangeley (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rangeley 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 Rangeley’s library?
It logged 8.6 visits and lent 6.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Rangeley’s civic life grade?
A+ Rangeley 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 Rangeley.
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.