Library Hours
Monday: 9:00 - 5:00
Tuesday: 9:00 - 8:30
Wednesday: 9:00 - 5:00
Thursday: 9:00 - 8:30
Friday: 9:00 - 5:00
Saturday: 9:00 - 5:00
(Saturday in summer:
9:00 - 1:00)
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Welcome
Did You Get an eReader as a Holiday Gift?
We have just updated our tutorials on using the Maine InfoNet Download Library to borrow eBooks. Click on the links below to download our tutorials as a PDF.
If you're looking for other sources of free eBooks, please click here. Do you need help with a different device, or further assistance? Please contact us -- we are happy to help!
Cape Elizabeth Mystery Authors, That's Who!On Saturday, February 11th at 2:00 p.m. the library will offer a panel discussion featuring three Cape mystery authors in different stages of their writing careers.
- B.B. Haywood, the pen name of Beth Feeman and her writing partner has just published her third book in the successful "Candy Holliday" murder mystery series. Town in a Wild Moose Chase follows Town in a Blueberry Jam and Town in a Lobster Stew, all of which are set in a fictional coastal Maine town called Cape Willington.
J. R. Mackenzie has just published her first mystery novel, A Temptation Tale: A Father Tom Novel, which follows the lives of two priests at a church in a fictional Pennsylvania community that is modeled on Portland.
Karla Whitney, a writer, teacher, and graphic designer, has to date published nonfiction in textbooks, tutorials, ad copy, and captions; she has completed her first mystery novel and is learning all about what happens next.
The public is invited to learn about the writing and publishing process, the planning and decision making that goes into writing a mystery manuscript, and how a mystery is crafted in this informal talk and panel discussion. Books by the authors will be available for sale through the Thomas Memorial Library Foundation. Free!
Library Receives New Computers as Part of State Library Grant
Thomas Memorial Library is one of a group of libraries across that state that have received a new computer workstations as part of federal grant awarded to the Maine State Library. These new computers are equipped with all the software needed for the library to offer the LearningExpress Library online learning platform. This new service provides over 770 of the most up-to-date test preparation and skill-building resources, helping both students and adults prepare for a wide range of academic and career-oriented exams as well as improve basic skills in reading, writing, and math. This service, as well as the new computers, is provided as part of the Maine Public Library Information Commons Project. This federal grant is funded through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA.) Learning Express is also available on home computers to anyone with a library card. For help with these new library resources within the library, please see Kevin Goody, Adult/Young Adult Librarian.
LearningExpress is included within the MARVEL collection of online databases. For more about MARVEL, click here. To access Learning Express, please follow the links below.
Access to LearningExpress
- Access LearningExpress inside the library
Are you outside a Library and a current MARVEL user? Access via a login prompt for MARVEL
Are you outside a library and not used MARVEL before? See instructions for first time MARVEL users, outside a library
Download User Instructions for LearningExpress Library. [PDF, 465 KB] This file requires the free Adobe Reader.
Socrates Café Continues to Thrive
At the January meeting of Socrates Café, the library’s new philosophy discussion group, twenty-six participants discussed the question “Do we have a right to die?” The lively discussion covered diverse aspects of the question, with participants ranging in age from 9 years old to 75 and above. Although the group is intended for adults, several children have occasionally accompanied their parents to the program, and as active participants, have provided yet another perspective on the diverse subjects discussed.
Participants stopping by the library reported that they have continued to ponder the question as the days go by. One participant wanted to pass along information about a book she stumbled upon serendipitously that speaks to the discussion during the program. The Undertaking: Life Studies from The Dismal Trade is a collection of essays by undertaker and poet, Thomas Lynch. In the book, Lynch pays unique homage to "the living who have died" and funeral rites.
After the program, several participants mentioned the film Gloomy Sunday, as relevant to the discussion. In this German-Hungarian film from director/co-writer Rolf Schubela, a man throw himself into the Danube in despair, only to be rescued by a man whose life intersects with his in surprising and complicated ways.
Do you have other resources related to the discussion to recommend? Send an email to Rachel Davis.
The next meeting of Socrates Café is Tuesday, February 7 at 6:30 p.m. Pre-registration for the program is not necessary—all are welcome! For more information on the program, please click here.
Four Addition Forthcoming Titles Announced
Four new titles have been to our list of forthcoming books that will be published at in late winter and spring of 2012. You may reserve these titles, as well as other forthcoming books we have on order, by going to our Forthcoming Popular Fiction page. Updated Decenber 21, 2011
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Apparent Glimmerings: Paintings by Deborah Barlow Paintings by artist Deborah Barlow will be on display in the library's gallery space through the month of January. A reception will be held on Friday, January 13th from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.All are welcome! |
The Library is a Busy Place!
Lectures, book groups, concerts, financial literacy programs, dance parties--a lot has been going on at the library in recent months. Below is a slideshow of photos from some of these programs.
Take Heart:
A Conversation in Poetry Each week, Maine Poet Laureate Wesley McNair's Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry column offers newspapers and libraries across Maine one previously published poem by a Maine poet. The Thomas Memorial Library is pleased to participate. To read the latest poems, please click here. |
| Would you like to read more poetry? Why not explore the library's Gabriel A. Zimpritch Poetry & Writing Collection. For more information on this extensive collection of poetry and writing materials, please click here. |
Library Seeks Donations of Bubble Wrap
and Padded Envelopes
Do you have these packing materials at home? Instead of throwing them out, please give them to the library. We use them to protect audio and video materials so they don't get damaged when traveling through interlibrary loan. Sorry, we don't need packing peanuts!
Borrow a Kill a Watt® Energy Detector!
Sure to be one of the most requested and popular “whodunits” at public libraries around Maine is the Kill A Watt®. 
No, it's not the latest mystery novel on the bestseller list, but rather an electricity usage monitor and educational tool kit available for free checkout from the library. The monitors will help Mainers detect the “energy thieves” in their homes, and the tool kit will help them put the lid on power consumption by appliances and electronics in their homes and businesses. Simply plug an electrical device into the monitor, and plug the monitor into an outlet in your home. The monitor will let you know exactly how much energy your appliances, chargers, and other electical devices use, and how much money you could save by keeping them unplugged. Read more.
When you find a book of interest in the library's catalog, you can click on the "More About This Item" button to read a summary, published reviews, or sometimes even a sample chapter or excerpt. (Older titles may not have any additional information available.)
Note: You must have your brower's pop-up blocker turned off in order for this feature to work!
If you are interested in finding, for example, only the movie version of a Harry Potter title, you can use the Limit/Sort Search button to limit your search to a particular "material type"-- in this case "DVD." If you are only interested in an audiobook on CD, you can select "spoken CD" as a material type.
Click here for a step-by-step tutorial on limiting your searches.
If you want to browse the catalog and reserve a number of items, you can avoid having to type in your name and barcode number each time you want to place a hold by logging into your patron record first. Once you are logged in, all you have to do to request an item is click on the Request button!
For instructions on logging into your patron record, click here.
We create catalog records for many our popular fiction titles for adults and children well in advance of their publication date. You can reserve these titles just like you would any other item in our collection.
Click here to go to the New and Forthcoming Books page.
Click here for information on how to place a reserve.
Get a reminder notice from us before your books are due!
If we have your correct email address in your library record, you will automatically receive an email reminder notice from us three days before your items are due. If you have borrowed books from other libraries through interlibrary loan, you will receive a reminder email notification from the libraries that own the materials you borrowed. Not sure if we have your email address on file? Give us a call at 799-1720.
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