HARTLAND, Maine — John Clark often says he runs Hartland Public Library more like a hardware store than a library.
“At a hardware store, you don’t want to find a predominance of washers that fit faucets from 10 years ago,” said Clark. “That’s my theory with books.”
In addition to his hardware store theory, Clark has another scheme at work: swap shop.
“I can turn a paperback into an audio book,” said the bearded, bespectacled librarian who’s more likely than not to throw a well-intentioned barb at incoming patrons. “I ship books all over the world.”
And from all over the world, he receives as well.
He toted Friday’s receipts, each clad in its own postal packaging, in a plastic shopping bag: An Ethan Hawke movie, audio books by Garrison Keillor, Ted Dekker and Dave Luckett, and books by Lori Foster and Clinton McKinzie.
“This cost $36.95,” said Clark, glancing at the back of Keillor’s 2007 audio book called “Pontoon.” “I traded two books for this.”
Chances are, those two books were duplicates of what’s on the Hartland library’s shelves. Or maybe Clark decided there wouldn’t be enough interest from patrons, vis-a-vis his hardware store theory.
On the same day, Clark had packaged seven books to ship out — paying all the postage personally — though he said both the incoming and outgoing stacks were smaller than average. Web sites make it possible. Clark has 800 books listed on www.bookmooch.com, 1,500 on www.swaptree.com and 2,500 on www.paperbackswap.com. He keeps a wish list of items he’s looking for, as do librarians and individuals all over the world. Computers do the matching.
In an era when any publicly funded institution has to spend wisely, Clark manages to make a lot out of a little. His annual buying budget of $4,400 comes from donations, grants, and proceeds from the library’s endowment. His salary and other operating expenses are covered by contributions from the towns of Hartland, St. Albans and Palmyra.
While he said the library has enjoyed steady public funding in recent years, it still operates on a bare-bones budget. Clark is the only employee, paid for 34 hours a week. There are situations like that all over Maine, said Stephanie Zurinski, the Maine State Library’s central Maine liaison.
“Budgets are no longer what they were,” she said. “I haven’t seen a lot of layoffs but that’s not to say that won’t happen next year. And [libraries] are not buying as much as they once were.”
Nikki Maounis, director of Camden Public Library, agreed.
“Stretching the collection dollars is something we are all doing,” she said. “Yet more and more people during tough times actually use the library. They tend to have fewer dollars in their pocket … so they turn to their public library.”
Book swapping goes back as long as libraries do, said Sonja Plummer-Morgan, librarian at Presque Isle’s Turner Memorial Library, president of the Maine Library Association and vice president of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries. What’s new is the technology. While many Maine librarians use a variety of online services such as Twitter, Facebook and eBay, Plummer-Morgan and others said Clark is ahead of most in terms of book swapping.
“The computer is becoming the doorway to our libraries,” she said. “We’re doing what we’ve always done as librarians, only with much greater tools.”
Clark has shared his methods at seminars and through newsletters and has written a weekly library column in local newspapers for years. Decades of working for libraries — including the former Augusta Mental Health Institute’s medical and patient libraries, the Maine State Library and the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library — just about everyone in Maine’s library world knows him, said Linda Lord, director of the Maine State Library.
“John is a particularly creative outside-the-box person among many who are that way,” said Lord. “Even in a group of standouts he would stand out.”
Since Clark took over at Hartland Public Library four years ago, the collection has grown from 16,000 to 24,000 items and the formerly meager DVD, audio book and music collections now fill numerous shelves, according to Clark. Circulation has tripled to about 75 books a day and the patron list has grown from 700 to about 1,250, but Clark’s favorite statistic is this: The library’s activity in the state’s interlibrary loan program — which allows patrons to borrow from any library in Maine — went from about 25 books a year to more than 2,500.
“Think about it; that’s access to 6.5 million books,” said Clark, crossing his arms high on his chest as he is apt to do. “I can lock in a request in three clicks on the computer.”
As a result of all this activity, Hartland Public Library is swamped with books, even for a library. Stacks of them surround Clark’s desk and a sizable heap can be seen underneath. There are boxes of free books in both the child and adult sections and in the basement are rows of books that are listed online. Clark admits he’s a little overwhelmed by the volume, but in those heaps he sees potential.
“Something has no value until someone wants it,” he said.
