Bates Cobblestone Farmhouse · Photo: Araucana · CC BY-SA 4.0Middlesex’s library logs 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Middlesex Public Library serves Middlesex’s 1,377 residents. Last year it lent 677 books, movies and e-books and logged 589 visits.
What Middlesex’s library is like
Middlesex Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Middlesex Public Library records 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $21 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Middlesex Public Library offered 5 programs last year, 3.6 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Middlesex Public Library serves 1,377 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Middlesex Public Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Gorham Free Library in Gorham, next door, is open about 38 hours a week. The building ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 1% of the people Middlesex Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Middlesex’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Middlesex is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns. Middlesex’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($57K–$95K) 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Middlesex
7.8 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.6%
7.6% of Middlesex’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York 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 Middlesex’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Middlesex Public Library serves 1,377 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
A year at Middlesex Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
677 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 4,094 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
151 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
5 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Middlesex last year.
Find it
Middlesex Public Library, 1216 Route 245, Middlesex.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Middlesex? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Middlesex cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $29K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $11K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $29K 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 12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potter | Mabel D. Blodgett Memorial Library fine-free | 5.1 | 20 | B− |
| Middlesex | Middlesex Public Library fine-free | 0.5 | 20 | C+ |
| Gorham | Gorham Free Library | — | 38 | B+ |
| South Bristol | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Canandaigua | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
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 Middlesex
Does Middlesex have a public library?
Yes. Middlesex Public Library, 1216 Route 245, serves Middlesex’s 1,377 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Middlesex 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 Middlesex’s library?
It logged 0.4 visits and lent 0.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Middlesex’s civic life grade?
C+ Middlesex is ahead of 43% 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 Middlesex.
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.