Portland Public Library
Portland Public Library is a nonprofit public library system based in Portland (Cumberland County), Maine, serving a legal service area of 69,104 residents through four library buildings and one bookmobile. Among the 228 profiled systems in Maine, it leads on population served, total visits, physical checkouts and operating spending.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.6 times the print volumes per resident and 2.4 times the visits per resident.
Portland against the 559 systems of its size class
Portland, building by building
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland Public Library | Central library | Portland | 110.2 | 154,115 |
| Portland-Burbank Branch Library | Branch | Portland | – | – |
| Portland-Peaks Island Branch Library | Branch | Peaks Island | – | – |
| Portland-Riverton Branch Library | Branch | Portland | – | – |
| Portland Public Portable Library | Bookmobile | Portland | – |
A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.
Portland in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 379,746
- Physical checkouts
- 381,035
- …of children's materials
- 178,541
- Electronic checkouts
- 140,494
- …of e-books
- 58,754
- …of e-audio
- 81,740
- Registered users
- 34,961
- Program sessions
- 1,320
- Program attendance
- 23,517
- Print volumes
- 304,392
- Audio items (physical)
- 22,600
- Video items (physical)
- 29,648
- Public computers
- 28
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 58.7
- Operating spending
- $5.9 million
- …on books and other materials
- $436,395
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Portland gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $6 million, or $86.35 per resident. The local-government share sits 3 percentage points above the combined share for the 228 profiled systems in Maine. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Portland since FY 2019
Visits were 34% below the FY 2019 count of 572,408 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 39% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Portland programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 59% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 18 people each.
Nonprofit association libraries of similar size in other states
None of these six systems records more visits per resident than this one. None of them matches this system's checkouts per resident.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greensburg Hempfield Area Library | Greensburg, PA | 73,274 | 1.08 | 1.73 | $11.82 |
| Kaltreider-Benfer Library | Red Lion, PA | 71,227 | 1.01 | 1.64 | $4.33 |
| Easton Area Public Library | Easton, PA | 69,439 | 2.54 | 2.42 | $32.88 |
| Lebanon Community Library | Lebanon, PA | 65,382 | 1.36 | 1.73 | $16.55 |
| Utica Public Library | Utica, NY | 65,283 | 1.23 | 0.86 | $22.20 |
| Beaver County Library System-Admin Unit | Aliquippa, PA | 65,037 | 0.24 | 0.89 | $11.98 |
Nearest in size within Maine
- Lewiston Public Library · Lewiston · 38,404 residents
- Bangor Public Library · Bangor · 31,628 residents
- North Gorham Public Library · Gorham · 29,167 residents
- Auburn Public Library · Auburn · 27,590 residents