The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Carol Wolf is vice president of the Pembroke Library Association and Lysa Intrator is the association’s treasurer. They are two of the 10 unpaid volunteers who keep the small rural library open for area residents.
The Maine Library Commissioners will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. Monday to discuss and vote on a set of policies for a newly reorganized Maine Regional Library System and the Benchmarks of Excellence, which all libraries in Maine would have to demonstrate in order to receive services from the Maine State Library system.
Libraries now receive subsidized high-speed internet access and technology support, Interlibrary Loan borrowing from other Maine libraries, van delivery of Interlibrary loan books, and other services. If libraries cannot meet these new benchmarks, the state could deny these benefits to their patrons. While many of the benchmarks seem reasonable, others are just not attainable within the all-volunteer, limited-finances reality of many small rural libraries.
The story of the Pembroke Library illustrates the plight of Maine’s small rural libraries.
Our library is run by 10 dedicated, unpaid volunteers; no one has a library sciences degree, but several have other advanced degrees. We are open 15 hours a week, with five of us having regular weekly shifts. The same five of us hold board of trustee positions, keep the garden flourishing and take out the trash.
Our treasurer keeps her accounts in a notebook; we can’t afford a yearly audit, but if any patron or donor wants to see how the funds are spent, she is completely transparent.
The town of Pembroke gave us $1,000 this year. Our budget is about $23,000 annually. We survive on grants, donations, sales from our Used Book Shop, payments for printing and copying, generous retirement distributions, a raffle quilt, and a lick and a prayer. Our library cards and basic library services are free to all.
Receiving subsidized high-speed internet from the state is crucial for our community. Many of our patrons have no internet at home and use ours — inside when we are open or outside 24/7 in our parking lot. We have up-to-date computers and a printer, obtained through a grant three years ago. Patrons also come to have copies made.
We have a line item in the budget for new books, but patrons may want to read something we don’t have, so interlibrary loan delivery and access to free ebooks are essential. Our monthly book club also needs multiple copies of novels.
In Pembroke, there are no cafes, no places for people to gather other than church basements and the American Legion. However, the library has a large community room used regularly by a quilting group, knitters, an astronomy club, the St Croix Gardeners’ Club, the Quoddy Connections singers, the Friends of Moosehorn, Chantey singers, hospice volunteers and the Girl Scouts, among others. We also bring in Maine authors to read from their works and host lecturers on diverse topics. Anyone can ask to use that space. We’re grateful for donations, but we charge no fees. We even bring in home-baked goodies to provide light refreshments for our events!
Downstairs, in our children’s room we have a weekly toddlers’ reading and activity program. Three nearby elementary schools come on regular field trips where their students listen to stories, receive a library card and can check out their own books. Funding cuts to local schools have meant that many can no longer afford to offer their students an in-school library experience.
The Pembroke Library may be able to meet most of the proposed benchmark requirements, although to do so would require us to waste our donor’s money on a salary for an unneeded “director.” Many rural libraries, however, especially even smaller ones like nearby Dennysville’s Lincoln Library, certainly cannot. These Maine State Library proposals would most harm communities in areas that are already isolated and struggling financially. We encourage supporters of all public libraries to contact the Maine State Library, the Maine Library Commissioners and their Maine legislators to voice their opposition to these proposals.