Kristen Budlong, director of Bremen Library looks forward to welcoming patrons on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. thanks to a grant from the Maine Humanities Council. (Raye S. Leonard photo)
Bremen Library will now be open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in addition to its Wednesday through Saturday schedule.
Funding has been provided by the Maine Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to keep the library open five days a week.
The grant funding will cover the library director’s pay for the extra day, as well as the operating costs for the building, according to Mary Voskian of the Bremen Library Board of Directors.
“It’s a big deal for a small library,” Voskian, who wrote the grant application for the library, said. The Maine Humanities Council wanted to fund a rural library in particular, with less local tax revenue available to keep it open during the pandemic.
The town of Bremen does not have a school within town borders, but it does have many children who are homeschooled and rely on the library as a way to connect with other students.
Bremen Library is now open Tuesday through Saturday. (Raye S. Leonard photo)
“Parents were concerned their kids were not getting enough interaction with other kids,” Voskian said.
The board agreed to rent out the room on the second level to parents so they could bring their children together in a safe way between March 2020 and November 2020.
The Bremen Patriotic Club also meets and hosts events at the library in the winter, as the historic Bremen town house where it meets in the summer does not have electricity.
“There’s no town center or gathering place in Bremen,” Voskian said. “The library is the focal point; the connection to your community.”
The board had been searching for ways to keep the library open more often, such as recruiting volunteers. But the board already relies on volunteers to keep the library operating on Fridays, so it decided to pursue grant funding.
“We’re glad to provide more library time for the community, which includes programming,” Kristen Budlong, library director, said.
Bremen Library Director Kristen Budlong works at the circulation desk on the first Tuesday of the library’s new schedule. (Raye S. Leonard photo)
She leads a story time with children on Thursdays, but attendance has been low. With the library open another day, Budlong said she is hoping Tuesdays will bring more local kids to story time.
“We heard directly from patrons that between Wednesday and Saturday they felt there was a big gap,” library board member Kevin Redline said.
Bremen Library is early in the process of creating an outdoor nature-based play area next to the library, and having an extra day would eventually help facilitate that as well, Voskian said.
Originally, the board hoped to apply for the grant in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the library’s priorities. In 2021, the board discovered the Maine Humanities Council grant, and Voskian got to work on the proposal.
The bulletin board at the doorway to Bremen Library will likely include more offerings to the community now that the library will be open on Tuesdays. (Raye S. Leonard photo)
The grant funding is enough to keep the library open on Tuesdays in 2022. The board plans on re-applying to the Maine Humanities Council or other grant opportunities in 2023 to ensure the Tuesday option is something the library can continue to provide.
“It’s hard for a small organization like this, supported by taxpayers, to keep asking for more,” Redline said. Much of the library’s funding also comes from patrons and donors to acquire new books, movies, and other resources.
The library raised $10,000 in Christmas wreath sales in 2021.
In addition to entertainment, the library makes computers and copiers available to the public, as well as help with personal computer issues and informational classes.
“For libraries, grants fill financial voids,” Redline said.
(This story was updated Jan. 6, 2022)
