The historic public library in Bar Harbor has opened a new $10.7 million wing after a yearslong effort to modernize the building with its first major expansion or renovation since it opened in 1911.
With the new addition, the Jesup Memorial Library now has a disability-accessible bathroom and more than a handful of public electrical outlets where patrons can plug in their laptop or charge other devices.
The new expansion, which has been formally open since July 19, will help the library meet the evolving needs of the permanent and seasonal residents of Mount Desert Island’s premier tourist destination, library officials said. Outside of 2017, when the building’s roof was replaced and its bricks were repointed, the new wing is the library’s first major renovation since its opening 115 years ago.
“The building from 1911 is amazing, beautiful and historic,” said Lila Miller, Jesup’s community relations director. “It’s been really well cared for — generations of people have loved this building very kindly — and it is not serving the needs of a modern library. We do a lot of trying to do new things in a space that was not designed for it, and that is very hard to operate.”
Modern public libraries have grown into community spaces that provide a range of services that they didn’t in previous centuries: libraries like Jesup host knitting clubs, contra dances and rotating art displays. Libraries are often a resource for community members who need a comfortable place to charge their phones or escape extreme weather.
But Jesup, confined to a 1911 building that was prone to basement flooding, sometimes struggled to meet these changing demands, despite a dedicated group of staff, volunteers and donors.
Ron Beard, who served on the library’s board of trustees for three terms beginning in 2016, arrived in Bar Harbor in the 1970s. Then, Jesup was “doing a wonderful job of being what people expected of a library,” he said.
“And then in the years, probably since the late ’80s, early ’90s, people began to see the library as a space, not only for books and sometimes for author talks and that sort of thing, but as a space that could be used for exploration of community issues and community concerns,” Beard said. “As the library kind of moved in that direction, they realized that we’re pretty limited in terms of the space in which we can perform that role.”
Beard described the library as “a third space: not the space of work, and not the space of home, but a community space that is open without charge.”
The library’s expansion dates back to 2011, when then-Library Director Ruth Eveland spearheaded the purchase of a property adjacent to Jesup, which previously served as an eye doctor’s office.
The new wing’s design was centered around four principles: youth spaces, technology, archives and sustainability, Miller said. And, perhaps most importantly, the expansion added an elevator, affectionately named “Minnie,” which will provide stair-free access to all areas of the building.
Prior to the renovation, which added 8 new bathrooms, the library’s sole restroom was on the bottom floor, only accessible by a flight of stairs.
The wing replaced what was previously a cramped children’s room with an expansive youth section. The area has a projector with interactive games for children and age-appropriate video games for teens. Librarians spent hours recategorizing the children’s books by subject — like transportation or nature — rather than by author.
The expansion also centered around modernizing Jesup’s technology. The renovation added some 400 electrical outlets and has several community spaces, like conference rooms and a 120-person auditorium, powered by user-friendly technologies. The wing also added a makerspace, which patrons can use to learn creative skills — like 3D printing or how to rewire a lamp, Miller said.
The expansion included a climate-controlled archive for the library’s historic collections, many of which chronicle the founding of Acadia National Park and earlier residents of Mount Desert Island.
The library was founded through the philanthropy of George Dorr, known as the father of Acadia, and Maria DeWitt Jesup, whose late husband the library is named after.
Like the original building, the new wing was largely funded through private donors — many of whom have decades-long or generational ties to Mount Desert Island. The wing is dedicated to Thomas Lord, whose granddaughter Rena Zurn Fulweiler was a lead donor on the expansion.
Former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell is the chair of the expansion’s honorary committee, according to the library’s website for the expansion. Mitchell, who has ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was not present at a July 19 ribbon cutting ceremony for the wing and is no longer involved in the project, Miller said.
“The honorary committee was helpful at the kickoff and in lending their support and their name to the process,” Miller said. “We were grateful for that support when we needed it the most.”
The total expansion, including repair work to the existing building, cost $13.4 million and was funded by ore than 650 private donors and several grants. The library received $600,000 in congressionally designated spending, as well as federal grants because of their use of cross-laminated timber, an innovative, sustainable building material that reduced the expansion’s carbon footprint by 37%, according to Miller.
The town of Bar Harbor does not own or operate the library, and did not contribute any funding to the expansion, but it does provide $300,000 annually for library operations, Miller said.