March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Brooklin library to launch fund drive for improvements

BROOKLIN — The little library that author E.B. White helped put on the map will look for a fresh show of support in the new year.

Friend Memorial Library will launch a public fund-raising drive next month. Its goal is to raise $300,000 for an addition and renovation project that would begin on Labor Day.

The small, homey facility draws patrons not only from Brooklin and surrounding towns, but tourists visiting the WoodenBoat School and other local landmarks.

“Our library has always been a mecca for E.B. White fans. We have the E.B. White Garden. That’s probably our biggest distinguishing characteristic,” said library director Gretchen Volenik.

Longtime residents of Brooklin, the late author and his family have been among the library’s most ardent supporters.

The facility’s other most striking feature may be its circulation rates. In a town of 785 people, the library makes about 18,000 loans of materials each year. “I worked in a town twice this big — Tenants Harbor — and there wasn’t nearly as high a circulation,” said Volenik.

The town of Brooklin gives the library about $3,500 a year. Run by a private board, the facility relies on donations and other income for most of the $47,000 it needs annually to operate.

New funds are needed to cover an addition to the rear of the building, renovations including repainting and lighting, and furnishings. The project also will make the building handicapped-accessible, said Volenik. Construction is set to begin in September, and to be complete by Memorial Day in 1999.

Library officials have been working on design plans for six months with Elliott and Elliott Architecture of Blue Hill.

A survey answered by more than 100 library users stressed their desire to keep the building’s original character while making improvements. The entry room, built in 1912, will stay intact.

A major source of seed money for the expansion project came from donations honoring former library board President Harrison Smith, who died two years ago, Volenik said. She hopes the fund drive, which begins with a mailing in mid-January, will raise the needed balance.

The library will buy two computers as part of the project, with one dedicated to public uses such as Internet access and interlibrary loan information. Volenik said she does not foresee computerizing the card catalog until there is more demand for it.

Overall, Volenik is heartened by the resurgence she sees in support for libraries, such as the half-million-dollar donation children’s author Barbara Cooney just made to her local library in Damariscotta.

“For so many years, libraries have struggled,” said Volenik. “Now there’s a recognition of how important they are to our small towns, which is just a very interesting aspect of our state.”


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