To the Wiscasset Public Library community,
Following public health guidelines, we are closing the Library until further notice. The current threat from the pandemic is too severe to be ignored.
We will continue to watch as events unfold and make decisions on reopening when it is safe to do so. We are intent on doing what is best and safest for our patrons and staff.
See the following sites for reliable information:
Elevation by Stephen King
The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland’s Buried Past and Our Perilous Future by Jon Gertner
Insurrection at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by Rob Tenery
Overstory by Richard Powers
Panchinko by Min Jin Lee
Station Eleven by Emily ST. John Mandel
Front row: Betsy Kyle, Linda Belmont and Tracy Joyce. Back row: Greg Uthoff (Secretary), Sherri Dunbar, Richard Litz (President), Sally Gemmill (Vice President), Sandra Crehore, Linda Bleile, Cheryl Rust and Tom Boudin (Treasurer).
The Friends of the Wiscasset Public Library Book Discussion group has made a change for the 2020 season. We will be meeting on each third Thursday of the month at 10:15 in the Fiction Room. We meet in the Fiction Room at the library every month.
On Thursday, January 16 we will be discussing One Goal by Amy Bass. This book is a non-fiction story of how the Lewiston High School overcame all odds to win the state soccer championship.
Please consider joining us this year. If anyone wants to be on the Book Discussion Email List, please let me know at janetcmorgan@gmail.com.
At their December book share the Friends of WPL recommened :
Dasher by Matt Tavares
Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Victory: an Island Tale by Joseph Conrad
It is always fun to see what others are reading. Thank you to the Friends for telling us about these interesting titles.
Friends of Wiscasset Public Library Recommend
At the November book share meeting, the Friends recommended several titles.
John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Barry Lopez’s Arctic Dream
Heather Morris’s Cilka’s Journey
Mary Alice Monroe’s The Butterfly’s Daughter
Jojo Moyes’ The Giver of Stars
Ivan Turgenev’s Father & Sons
This group meets at the Library on the third Friday of each month at 10:15 a.m. Why not stop in and share some of your favorite book titles with everyone? The next meeting is on 20. Look forward to seeing you there.
Pilot Program Aims to Improve Lending Options for Library Materials
Augusta – Starting September 16, 2019, library patrons from nearly 70 Maine libraries will have more options for accessing library materials outside of their home library thanks to a new year-long pilot project called the Maine Reciprocal Borrowing Program. The service allows library users with a valid library card from one participating library to visit another participating library to check-out materials in person.
“Maine libraries have a long history of working together to improve access to services and lending materials,” said Maine State Librarian Jamie Ritter. “This new pilot project builds on our already successful interlibrary loan system that provides statewide lending of library materials through a van delivery network between 67 libraries in every corner of the state.”
While reciprocal borrowing won’t replace the statewide interlibrary loan service, it offers a new convenience for Mainers who may live in one community but spend a significant portion of their time in other places for work, vacation or family obligations.
The inspiration for the pilot project stemmed from conversations that took place at the Maine Library Association’s Fall Conference last year where librarians in attendance expressed a strong desire to develop initiatives that would strengthen library resources in Maine. In subsequent months, a working group identified libraries who had compatible library system software and were willing to be part of a pilot project to test how a reciprocal borrowing program would work.
“What really makes this work seamlessly is that the participating libraries are utilizing the same library system software,” state’s James Jackson Sanborn, the Director of Maine Infonet, whose organization manages these systems. “The fact that the participating libraries all have library cards with a 14-digit barcode and the software is able to recognize a library card from a participating library makes this doable.”
All participating libraries have agreed to stay in the pilot for one year in an effort to measure the extent of how the program is utilized by patrons and understand policy considerations ahead of any decision to make the program permanent or expand the scope to a larger group of libraries.
For many libraries taking part in the pilot, they are excited about the possibilities. “Our patrons’ library card just got better,” state’s Lee Koenigs, Director of Old Orchard Beach’s Public Library. “To share with our library users that they can use their Old Orchard Beach Library card at dozens of other libraries across the state is huge customer service offering.
Amy Levine, Director of the Rockland Public Library feels the same way. “We’re just excited to be able to offer this to our patrons and be part of the pilot. We really hope it works out well and expands in the future.”
For the systematic reasons indicated by Jackson Sanborn, however, not all libraries in Maine are eligible to participate at this time. Both the Maine State Library and Maine InfoNet are continuously seeking ways to increase participation by finding solutions that eliminate these systematic and technical barriers. “It takes financial and human resources to grow the number of libraries that could eventually participate,” state’s Jackson Sanborn, “but it’s essential work and we believe good things happen when we can break down barriers to sharing library resources.”
For a complete list of participating libraries and other program information, please visit: www.maine.gov/msl/libs/reciprocal_borrowing
How it works:
1. Make sure your Library is in the program. Wiscasset Public is!
2. Make sure the Library you want to use is in the program. The list is online.
3. Take your Library card with you.
4. Borrow what you want.
5. Return to any participating Library.
WPL Saturday hours are 10 am to 2 pm. all year round.
The internet is not always accurate. So many of us have become dependant and almost addicted to looking for our information on the internet that we forget that the information on the internet is not always updated in a responsible or timely manner. A few patrons have advised me that there are places on the online that list WPL Saturday hours as 9 am to 2 pm. It also lists the Library as closed on Saturdays during the summer. That was true at one time. Those hours changed effective January 1 2019. I wrote to Google and Bing with corrections a few months ago but those corrections have not been made as yet.
Please keep this example in mind when you search the internet for anyhting. If you want to be sure of accurate and up-to-date information go to the source as often as possible. Although using a web browser and checking the search engines can be helpful, visiting a businesses website will probably give you better information. This is especially true when looking for medical advice, legal issues, financial information, etc. Browse the source and get resutls you can trust.