Grant to help library chill out

BANGOR – A cooler Bangor Public Library is in the works, thanks to a sizable grant from the Maine State Library.

The Bangor building has received a Maine State Library New Century Construction/Renovation Bond Grant of $105,925, half the amount needed to install central air conditioning in the entire building.

Library officials hope to raise the remaining funds for the project by this fall, with installation completed by next summer.

Air conditioning will help preserve the library’s collections by keeping the air temperature stable and reducing humidity, library Director Barbara McDade said. Concern over book preservation increased last summer when the staff noticed mold growing in the children’s department, a result of the hot and humid air, according to McDade.

Although no books were affected and the mold was removed, air conditioning would help prevent any future problems, McDade said.

“If we got mold in the books, we’d be in big trouble,” McDade said Monday. “Although we have it [the mold] under control, we really feel that air conditioning is a must.”

The library, built in 1912, houses a number of rare artifacts, McDade said, including a manuscript by St. Thomas Aquinas, and unique pieces on the history of Bangor.

Also housed in the library are paintings by New England painter Jeremiah Hardy and other well-known artists.

“These are things that are valuable not only to Bangor, but to the world,” McDade said. Without air conditioning, these valuable pieces would certainly be at risk for mold deterioration.

The library has never specifically tried to raise money for air conditioning, McDade said, because it never seemed like a priority.

“Until last summer, we thought: ‘Oh, it gets hot four days in Maine, we don’t need to do that,'” McDade said. “Last summer proved us wrong.”

In 1999, the library started its first fund drive, targeting potential library supporters who could designate their gifts for a number of areas, including air conditioning and climate control.

Now the library has started a capital campaign to raise enough money to match the state grant in order to fund air conditioning. The library plans to complete the campaign by Sept. 15, McDade said.

This is the second time the library has received money from the state library for construction.

“We’re delighted that we got this much money,” McDade said.

While book preservation is the primary concern, air conditioning would make the environment more bearable for staff and patrons, who suffer during the hot summers, McDade said.

“I can barely move some days,” the library director said.

A few years ago during a summer concert in the building’s lecture hall, one of the performers and two audience members passed out from the heat, McDade said.

Greta Alquist, a full-time summer employee, said the heat was so bad at one point this summer that she was taken to the emergency room of a local hospital because she was having trouble speaking and her hands went numb. She was shelving books at the time.

“It’s just sweltering back in the stacks,” Alquist said.