Online resources complement books at library

“Books live here, for you to read, for you to borrow, for free” is the new mission statement of the Bangor Public Library. It may sound retro in this techno age, but books, even with computers, the Internet and DVD’s, are still the most used items in the library.

And the use of books, magazines and newspapers keeps increasing every year. But while the library doesn’t think the printed page is going to disappear anytime soon, it does invite patrons to augment their reading with some e-resources available through the library’s Web page found on the Internet at www.bpl.lib.me.us.

Click on “Maine Databases” to enter a world of information. One can read the latest edition of the science journal Nature, look up an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica or use indexes to find abstracts or full-text articles in a wide variety of scholarly and popular journals.

Investors can evaluate stocks using Value Line, children can learn about animals, fiction readers can find suggestions for another good book to read, genealogists can find family histories and readers can even find stories from back issues of the Bangor Daily News.

These on-line resources are a statewide collection funded through the University of Maine Libraries and the Maine State Library. The service is known as Maine InfoNet and is free to anyone living in the state. It’s one example of how libraries of all types throughout the state cooperate.

Of course, the physical, public library is still available for you to check out a good book, peruse a newspaper or magazine, bring a young friend to story time, research an idea, see an art exhibit or attend a book discussion.

Preschool story times and after-school programs at the Bangor Public Library begin the week of Sept. 22. There’s at least one children’s program every day. A library card is a key to the world. If one can read, one can learn to do just about anything – and if one has a library card, the world is open for exploration, no matter what the topic.

Visit the library soon; it’s one of the most valuable assets of the city.

Barbara McDade is director of Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St., Bangor; 947-8336,

bmcdade@bpl.lib.me.us.