FORT KENT – The University of Maine at Fort Kent has been awarded $40,000 from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation to create a new entrance to the campus library.

The entrance also will serve as the main entryway for the new Acadian Archives, which is under construction and will be connected to the Blake Library.

The new entrance was part of the original plan for the archives building and provided for an elegant entryway to the library that would be located on the east side of the building facing into the campus quad, in a wing of the library building added in 1988. The current main entrance remains where it did when the building was constructed as a gymnasium in 1928, on the north side, facing the parking lot.

In addition to a new location, the main entrance will be handicapped-accessible. The door will have an airlock to keep out the cold.

Incorporated into the new plan will be the moving of the library circulation and reference desks to a location in the entrance. The archives entrance will be located close to that area.

Blake Library staff also will relocate their facility’s Acadian collection near the entrance so if the archives is closed, patrons will have resources to start their research.

The archives has been housed within the library since it was founded in 1990 to document, preserve, celebrate and disseminate information about the history and cultural heritage of Maine’s St. John Valley.