HOLDEN, Maine — The community is invited to celebrate the opening of a new community library during a dedication ceremony set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Grand Lodge of Masons in Maine’s home at 1007 Main Road.
Grand Secretary Mark Rustin said this week that the Grand Lodge Library will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The roughly $165,000 library construction project, which essentially was an expansion of the lodge’s existing library space, involved enclosing what used to be the drive-thru section of the former bank building the Maine Masonic group acquired in 2011, Rustin said.
Much of the funding for the expansion was donated by members and their supporters, but the Holden library also received a substantial grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation.
The larger library features space for research and computer use, a public computer and what Rustin describes as a “neat little kid’s area,” furnished and decorated in a school supplies theme. The library also offers free Wi-Fi.
While the core of the library’s collection is books about Freemasonry, Rustin said the grand lodge has added a broad collection of award-winning and popular books for children and books for older readers on topics ranging from liberal arts and sciences to genealogy, local authors, railroads and murder mysteries.
For more information about the library and its offerings, call the grand lodge at 843-1086 or visit mainemason.org.