The library is currently open Monday through Friday from 10:00am-5:30pm and Saturday 9:30am-12:30pm. The Children's Room and Archives are open by appointment. Please call for details: 207-582-3312.

Gardiner Public Library

Library “Seasons”

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Have you ever wondered about the “seasons” within the Gardiner Public Library?  To the average visitor, it probably just seems as if we are a really busy library and just leave it at that.  However, if you look a bit closer, our ebb and flow changes with the season and we are just about ready to launch into our fall season!
No one wants to admit it, but we are all seeing just a peek of fall color as we drive along our roads.  The public school teachers who are one of our favorite visitors during the summer are walking just a bit slower and we tease them, “how many more days”?  They just sigh and grab a great summer read before their leisure time is taken over by the students.  Summer is ending and school will begin, it is the inevitable cycle!
Every morning we open the doors to a few dozen folks just waiting to enter and many of them are kids…kids looking to get their prize for a job well done during our Summer Reading Program or teens jostling to be the first to use the IPad today.  They have become our summer friends as they wondrously explore our collection of titles and are quite amazed at how “cool” our musical CDs really are once you actually look.  In a few weeks these children will go back to school and become afternoon visitors instead.  We will certainly miss them, but honestly, I will be happy that I no longer have to hear Justin Bieber looping away on how he wants to be my boyfriend!
Come fall though, we welcome back our senior citizens…where have they been all summer?  One can only guess, but I suppose, like me, they are trying their best to be outside during this glorious summer.  Gardens are in bloom, families are visiting and maybe, just maybe, they have all gone “to camp.”  But come the end of August, they will be at our doors waiting to come into the library.
When we open the doors in the morning this group of folks will greet us as old friends, jostle each other to be the first to use the IPad today and gaze at our collection of titles and often be amazed  at our “cool” titles…who knew the library had a copy of THAT book….Fifty shades of what???
So farewell our summer kids, do well in school and let us help you succeed and welcome back to our older patrons…the library is yours until just about 2:45PM.
Anne E. Davis, Library Director

How Working at the Library Makes Me a Better Teacher

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At the tender age of sixteen, I was hired as a “Student Aid” at my local library. I knew very little about libraries; the books I read, for the most part, were given to me by my teachers and friends. I enjoyed casually reading, but I was far too preoccupied with the business of my own existence to bother with due dates and late fees. I felt intimidation when I entered the building, never knowing what was a “good book” and what wasn’t. The transition from Children’s Room to adult stacks isn’t always easy. The sheer volume of choices made me insecure; I had no idea where to start.
When the director hired me, I felt as if I was entering an elite group. They didn’t hire many students and the work was far better than waiting tables or watching the playground. I worked after school four days a week and was home by dinner every night. I shelved books, assisted patrons, and didn’t have to change a single diaper – it was fantastic.
Working at the library helped shape the person I am today, the teacher I am today. I fell back in love with reading. I. Fell. Hard. In no time my intimidation was gone and I could navigate the fiction and non-fiction like a mouse in a literary maze. I was always reading something, adamantly refusing to carry a purse that wouldn’t fit a glossy hard cover. When senior year approached and I began to look at my options for life, I knew I had to keep living in this world of books. Even further, I wanted to help other people my own age develop the same love I had – from cynic to celebrator.
With this idea in mind, I earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Secondary Education: English. My goal was to help students embrace reading; they didn’t have to love it, but they had to be willing to try. The library taught me to accept all readers and find what worked for them; an invaluable lesson when working with generally disgruntled teenagers. To them, the idea of reading was fundamental and no pleasure could be derived from the process. They stared blankly at me as I whipped books off the shelves like a disillusioned maniac, preaching the wonders of literature. “Seriously,” I’d profess, with an ear-to-ear smile, “You’re going to like it. Trust me!”
Over time, I created a culture in my classroom. I found immense joy when a student told me they “didn’t mind reading that.” The expectation for reading was formed from my work at the library. The change I found in myself as a life-long reader I can now pass on to my students. The library welcomes me back each summer with open arms, a job at which I regularly use my unique combination of library/education experience to help students find books for summer work and fun. Without my first job at sixteen, I would not be the teacher I am today. I’m a firm believer in the potential the library shelves hold, and I intend on sharing that belief for the next thirty years.
 Alyssa Littlefield, High School English Teacher/Library Assistant

Welcome

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Welcome to the Gardiner Public Library‘s blog.

Here you will read about events happening at the library, new items in circulation,  Stella’s mood during the day, fun facts, trivia, and the state of the world as we see it.  The blog is generated by an idea from our Ann behind the circulation desk and will have contributions from staff members with their point of view on things.  As this remarkably early and warm spring progresses, check back to our blog here and see what might be developing at the library.