King OKs funding for digital library

AUGUSTA – Mainers soon will be able to obtain more online reading material from Internet connections at their homes, schools and businesses thanks to a bill sponsored by Rep. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport.

Gov. Angus King signed legislation last week that provides $1 million over the next two years to Fogler Library at the University of Maine and $500,000 annually to the Maine State Library to create a digital library and increase electronic database access to newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals and reference books currently available only to subscribers.

Negotiations now will begin between the Maine Library Commission and vendors to determine the exact content on the digital library and access rules.

With the legislation, “any geographical disadvantage evaporates,” Rosen said Friday.

“Access fees and distance will no longer be barriers that prevent our citizens from accessing world-class sources of information. Maine’s digital library will provide Maine residents with universal access to information that is now available only to top scientists, researchers and professionals,” he said.

The legislation puts small libraries on an equal footing with their larger counterparts, said Elizabeth Moran, chairwoman of the Maine Library Commission.

In the past, “really tiny libraries” haven’t been able to afford to purchase the databases, she said.

“There’s just a wealth of information that our patrons can now use,” said Moran, director of the Camden Public Library.

New databases could include literary criticisms and topics such as health and genealogy, said Ben Keating, division director of reader and information services at the Maine State Library.