VASSALBORO — Library Director Brian Stanley hopes that people in town are ready to attend fun, in-person events after being cloistered indoors by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stanley was holding about 40 events a year at the Vassalboro Public Library before the pandemic brought nearly everything to a halt in March 2020.

But the library’s shelves have now been rearranged — following a three-week closure last month — to allow for more space and a new children’s reading and play area has been carved out in the front where events will be held.

By moving the shelves to within 38 inches of each other, 2 inches wider than what is required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, a new space for public computers and an open reading area in the back was created.

A Maine Public Library Fund grant allowed the library to purchase several STEAM kits — Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics — for the benefit of children.

The library is taking steps to better serve a wider range of customers. Stanley said there are many children who frequent the space as well as older folks who check out books and use the public computers for basic services like paying taxes or banking.

“It’s stuff that people can check out and learn at home,” Stanley said of the new resources. “But by doing the programs we can also do that together and get kids together from different families.”

Olivia Hatch, a 9-year-old from Vassalboro, was at the library Wednesday playing with a remote-controlled vehicle she built in the new space. She is a book-lover who visits the library often with her mother, Beth Hatch.

The elder Hatch volunteered to help with the library restructuring, along with about six other volunteers and the two-person library staff.

“I took part in the renovations, because I like what he is doing,” Beth Hatch said of Stanley. “He wanted to have more space for the children.”

Hatch teaches Olivia at home and said there is a relatively large home-school community in Vassalboro that relies on the library as a valuable resource.

Vassalboro Public Library Director Brian Stanley at the library Wednesday. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

The first event the library will hold in its new configuration is a story time for up to 15 students Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. that is expected to continue each week.

On Thursdays, a STEAM time for home-schooled students will be held from 10 a.m. to noon, and another STEAM time for Vassalboro Community School students will be held Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m.

Stanley also hopes to start a book club.

A Chicago native who grew up in Maine, Stanley said he has always loved libraries and after moving back to Maine in 2016, the first job he found was at the Vassalboro library. He has been working ever since to improve the resources available to the community.

“Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve always been drawn to the libraries, because they’re safe, public spaces, and I like that they’re really democratic in that they serve their community in a way that I feel can be fair and balanced,” he said.

Stanley has big plans for the library and will ask the town for $25,000 more in funding in this year’s budget to increase hours, staffing, available resources and programming. Stanley said the library was allocated $35,000 last year, an amount that hasn’t significantly increased in at least six years.

“It equalizes things for people,” he said. “That’s what libraries do.”

« Previous

Next »

Related Stories