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)
Library Wins National Award
The Thomas Memorial Library has been selected to receive the prestigious national EBSCO Excellence in Small and/or Rural Public Library Service Award.
The award is given annually by the Public Library Association to a public library that serves a population of 10,000 or less. Only one library in the United States is chosen each year. To win the award, the library must have demonstrated excellence of service to its community as exemplified by an overall service program or a special program of significant accomplishment.
Rachel Davis, Thomas Memorial Library's children's librarian, received a plaque and a $1,000 honorarium to be given at the American Library Association National Conference in Anaheim, California on June 30, 2008.
Davis submitted the winning application for the library's Lonely Books Club, an original program designed to encourage children to read award-winning or otherwise notable children's books in the library's collection that no longer circulate.
The program, sponsored by the Rotary Club of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth, began in April of 2007 and is still going strong. Children who wish to join the Lonely Books Club must be in grades 3 and up. Members are asked to read books from a list of more than 400 "Lonely Books" -- works of children's fiction that have not circulated more than two times in the last five years. Many of these books have won awards or have been featured on "Best Books for Children" lists, but because their covers are worn or they appear outdated, children do not choose to read them on their own.
More than two-thirds of the books on the Lonely Books list have been read since the program began.
The club currently has nearly 90 active members ranging in age from 7 to 14. Club members have developed a new appreciation for the books, many providing comments on evaluations such as, "I learned not to judge a book by its cover…what do you know, these books were pretty great!" or "I looked at books that seemed boring but then I read them and found out that they weren't so boring."
The program has been supported enthusiastically by the Rotary Club of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth since they first received the library's grant proposal in early 2007. Promoting literacy worldwide has been a focus for Rotary International, and the local club hopes that the Lonely Books Club can be replicated in other communities around Maine and the country.
The next meeting of the Lonely Books Club is Wednesday, August 27 at 3:30 p.m. in the library's Community Room.
Links to press coverage of this award:
Thomas Memorial Library wins national award for ‘Lonely Books’ program, Cape Courier, 2/23/08
Cape library program wins award, Portland Press Herald, 2/20/08
'Lonely Books' a winner for Cape library, The Current, 2/14/08
Lonely No More. Southern Maine Forecaster, 2/14/08
Cape Elizabeth library wins national award, MaineToday.com news updates, 2/11/08
PLA 2008 award winners represent excellence in public libraries, American Library Association, 2/11/08