Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domainShapleigh’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Shapleigh Community Library serves Shapleigh’s 3,003 residents. Last year it lent 3,871 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,338 visits.
The short version on Shapleigh’s library
Shapleigh Community Library is used less than most libraries its size
Shapleigh Community Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $11 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Open only about 16 hours a week
Shapleigh Community Library keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Goodall Memorial Library in Sanford, next door, is open about 54 hours a week. The building ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Shapleigh Community Library offered 28 programs last year, 9.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Shapleigh Community Library spends $11 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
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 Shapleigh’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Shapleigh is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #137 of 143 in Maine. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Shapleigh Community Library spends $11 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($66K–$110K) 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Shapleigh
2.7 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.9%
7.9% of Shapleigh’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 Shapleigh’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Shapleigh Community Library serves 3,003 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
3,871 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 15K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
28 programs a year
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 Shapleigh last year.
Find it
Shapleigh Community Library, 607 Shapleigh Corner Road, Shapleigh.
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 $1.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Shapleigh cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $32K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $58K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $32K 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 597 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Shapleigh 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 Shapleigh
Does Shapleigh have a public library?
Yes. Shapleigh Community Library, 607 Shapleigh Corner Road, serves Shapleigh’s 3,003 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Shapleigh Community Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Shapleigh’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Shapleigh’s civic life grade?
C− Shapleigh is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #137 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 Shapleigh.
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.