Orono’s library wants to expand to include larger spaces for residents and students — plans developed more than two decades ago by volunteers who eventually raised money to build a free-standing institution.
The vision moved one step closer to reality last week, when a U.S. Senate committee passed more than $4.5 million in federal funding for Maine libraries, including $3.6 million for the Orono Public Library — the largest amount of the three projects receiving support. The legislation will next head to the Senate and House of Representatives.
Expansion plans would include a larger community room, an area reserved for teenagers and more private workspace for library staff, among other ideas still being developed, Director Laurie Carpenter said.
In the early 2000s, the Orono Public Library Foundation formed and planned to open a 12,000-square-foot library, but there was only enough funding for a building half that size, Carpenter said. Previously located inside the high school, a free-standing library opened in 2009 and still stands today. Now it has a chance to grow and better accommodate residents, but it will take time and money.
“We see this as a community gathering place — a hub open to everyone,” Carpenter said. “And we’ve heard people say, ‘Wow, this is a beautiful space, but it’s not nearly as big as I had hoped.’”
The $3.6 million in congressionally directed spending, which members of Congress can request for communities and nonprofits that apply to have their projects funded, is key to the expansion. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the appropriations committee, and Angus King both championed the cause, Carpenter said.
It’s unclear when the library would expand because the nine-member Orono Public Library Foundation intends to work with a professional fundraiser on a campaign to match the $3.6 million, which will take time, she said.
The library recorded 31,017 visits from June 2021 through July 2022, according to Carpenter. Official figures for the following fiscal year aren’t yet available, but the library is up to 36,000 visits this year.
“We’re not quite back up to pre-COVID numbers,” she said, noting the library was closed from March 2020 to May 2021. “That could partly be because people got used to digital content.”
Local groups, such as those focused on knitting, opera and Spanish language, frequently use the community room, as do teenagers throughout the school year. It’s also a space for programming, though attendees sometimes have to stand because there aren’t enough seats.
Children’s programs hosting between 20 and 30 people usually move to Asa Adams Elementary School, Orono High School’s performing arts center or the Keith Anderson Community Center.
Carpenter, who has worked for the library since 1985, wants to create an area tailored to teenagers so it can be as robust as the space for the library’s youngest readers, she said. A larger community room would better accommodate the public for events.
“It would have their collections that they could access,” she said. “We’d like to bring together a group of teens as we’re designing this [expansion] to see what they would see as beneficial.”
Three full-time and three part-time employees, plus two substitutes, work at the library. The building has two private offices, including one for the director and another for youth services staff. The circulation manager needs her own space because meetings via Zoom have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, Carpenter said.
The director also hopes to add more “people space” for the students, seniors and adults applying for jobs and working on resumes, among others who stay at the library for longer periods of time, because noise travels easily, she said.
Some work remotely, while others want to read in a comfortable, undisturbed space. There still need to be welcoming areas for children who aren’t necessarily as quiet, she said.
More University of Maine students appear to be signing up for library cards this year, and patrons are using printing services more and more, Carpenter said, though these are not necessarily tracked.
“While we’re not trying to be the traditional library of the past, we certainly want to give people the opportunity to use the space in a way they would like,” she said.
