by Ardeana Hamlin
of The Weekly Staff
CLIFTON — After 26 years of being housed in the Clifton Town Office, the Clifton Public Library is closing its doors for good on June 30.
“No one uses the library anymore,” said Debbie Hodgins, administrative assistant at the Town Office. “It’s very sad.”
“We think it’s very sad, too,” said Joan Brooks who, along with Betsy Woehr and Linda Hedman staffed the library and served as its board of directors. “But for two years no one came to the library. People read from electronic devices now. We agonized over this decision for months. No one wanted to close the library.”
The library, Brooks said, was started at the Clifton Historical Society by Alma Williams, Eleanor Merrill, Lillian Morse, Bertha Manzo and Mary Bragg in 1980. It was housed in the Harold Allen one-room schoolhouse at that time, later moving to the town’s new municipal office.
“For the last two years, the only people who used the library were the three librarians who staffed it,” Brooks said.
Brooks, Woehr and Hedman have been successful in finding new homes at area schools and at the Maine Veterans Home in Bangor for some of the library’s 5,000 books. “We still have a lot of books and are attempting to find a good home for them — some of the books will be going back to the historical society,” Brooks said.
The public is invited to purchase books at greatly reduced prices, Brooks said. Hardcover books are $2 each, paperback books are 50 cents each. Children’s books are eight for $1. Proceeds will benefit the Clifton Historical Society.
The public is invited to browse the books 2-4 p.m. Wednesdays. In addition, a book sale will be held noon-4 p.m. Saturdays, May 16 and June 13.
For information, call the library at 843-0709.