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The state-owned building at 242 State St. will be the temporary home of the Maine State Library, beginning in January, while the Maine State Cultural Building, just up the street, undergoes an extemsive systems upgrade.
The Maine State Library started looking for a temporary new home this summer, after it was determined the Maine State Cultural Building, in Augusta, had to undergo extensive system upgrades. Turns out, it found two.
The public, who account for some 75,000 visits a year, won't have to look far from the old location to access library services. Beginning in mid-January, the state library will return to in-library service for the first time since July at 242 State St., just down the street from the library.
The library has also leased a second location in Winthrop that's not for public use, but will house much of its extensive collection.
"We’re very excited that a variety of services to the public will continue," James Ritter, library director, told Mainebiz. The work at the Cultural Building is expected to take about two years.
The library and archives, which shares space with the Maine State Museum, has been closed to the public since July, so the 53-year-old Maine State Cultural Building can undergo extensive asbestos removal and an electrical, cooling and heating overhaul. While it remains closed, the museum is offering online exhibits and events. The library has had curbside pickup since it closed.
The library will be the sole tenant of 242 State St., which has approximately 25,760 square feet over two floors. The public-facing component will take up almost all of the first floor, save for some private library offices, said Kelsey Goldsmith, director of communications for the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services, which oversees state government real estate. The entrance is off the parking lot, on Manley Street.
The building's second floor, which will include collections storage and some offices, will not have public access.
The state-owned building was long the Department of Moter Vehicles, then the Public Utilities Commission, and, most recently had some Department of Health and Human Services offices. When the new DHHS building opened at the corner of Capital and Sewall streets last year, the building became “swing space,” to be used as temporary quarters for state offices that were in transition, state officials said at the time.
The temporary library is expected to open at the site in mid-January, Goldsmith said. The space will also house most of the library's office staff, about 40 people.
The library's archives and the bulk of its collection will move to 1705 U.S. Route 202, in Winthrop, Ritter said. The 13,000 square feet of library space in that building will not have public access.
The split move to two locations means the public will once again have access to much of the library's Maine materials, including genealogy, microfilm, Maine newspapers and Maine histories, Ritter said.
The Maine-related collection will be available for researchers "and those most interested in those uniquely Maine materials," he said. The public will be able to access the materials by appointment, as well as reference services. There will be limited public access to computing and a small section of popular nonfiction and audio books.
He said there will likely be time limits on public use of the library's extensive newspaper microfilm archives and computers, depending on Maine COVID-19 orders when the temporary location opens. As restrictions lift, those limits will likely be eased.
The 242 State St. building also has a large public meeting room and some conference rooms. "So, as the governor’s orders to allow indoor gatherings proceed, we’ll be able to host programs and meetings there," Ritter said.
While the cultural building's issues had been a topic of discussion for a couple years, the extent of them and the news the building would need to shut down for two years for the work was unexpected by state officials, several said at the time.
Last year, the Legislature approved $15 million from the Maine Governmental Facilities Authority program to pay for the library upgrades. Portland architectural and engineering firm Wood Environment and Infrastructure Solutions is designing the new mechanical systems, as well as overseeing asbestos abatement in the state cultural buillding.
In a normal year, the Maine State Library gets about 75,000 in-person visitors; 17,500 patrons used its computers. In partnership with the Portland and Bangor public libraries, it answered more than 59,000 reference questions in 2018. The library also has a Book by Mail service for rural communities, sending out an average 6,500 books a year to people in areas that don't have access to a library. It's talking books program for people who are vision or reading-impaired lent 103,800 items.
Once the majority of the library's collection is moved to the Winthrop site, it will be avaliable to the public through the library's delivery service. The public can pick up requested materials at 242 State St., or have them delivered to the appropriate library across the state. For instance, if a patron of the Portland Public Library requested a book, library staff would send it to Portland.
Goldsmith said the Bureau of General Services has partnered closely with the affected cultural entities to ensure continued and safe operations during the renovation process, with as little disruption as possible.
The DAFS's Bureau of General Services is leasing the 13,000 square feet of warehouse space and an additonal 1,000 square feet of office space for some of the library's staff at the Winthrop location. The library is also adding to its existing collections storage at a state-owned storage area in Hallowell. The delivery van service is already used to bring collections from the Hallowell space to the library.
Storage details for the library’s extensive microfilm collection are in process, Goldsmith said, and the van delivery service will be used for those as well.
While the Maine State Museum isn't physically open to the public while the Maine State Cultural Building at 230 State St. in Augusta undergoes electrical, heating and cooling upgrades, as well as asbestos removal, it's working on new exhibits for when the museum opens back up.
Until then, it's offering a variety of online features at mainestatemuseum.org, including a video explaining what work it's doing and resources for schools and students. Online exhibits include an interactive map that brings viewers through Maine in 1820, a virtual source packet on the history of Maine's pandemics, the state's story of the struggle for women to get the vote, a feature on Malaga Island, and more.
Bernard Fishman, museum director, says in the update video that the museum staff is going to use the time to create new exhibits that will show the state's history in new ways. "Very exciting new ways, so that when you come back you'll see things that you never saw before and things that were well worth waiting for," he says.
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