TOPSHAM

Need to find a new job? A free getaway for the family? A book discussion club to express ideas and socialize?

Have you visited the Topsham Public Library?

The role of the library has evolved a bit since it opened its doors a decade ago at 25 Foreside Road. It still holds shelves of books, and its collection of more than 40,000 items has increased 32 percent in 10 years. In 2014, it served an average of 230 people a day — double the number in 2004.

The library offers more than 400 programs reaching more than 9,000 people. It’s board of trustees has acknowledged the library is providing a level of programming and services that is not sustainable, and has developed a longrange plan to help address the needs of patrons while establishing a strong foundation for the future.

Susan Preece, the library’s director, said the public library is the last bastion of democracy because it is the place of equal opportunity.

“Anybody can come in,” Preece said. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have. It doesn’t matter how you look. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or what you’re planning on doing. The public library is open for all and everybody gets the same level of service.”

At the end of the summer, Preece said a patron told her, “We couldn’t afford to go on vacation this year … so we just said as a family, we’re going to spend our summer at the library and my kids had the best time. They were here three times a week. We went through all kinds of collections, we went out in the gardens, we did the movies, we did the arts and crafts programs, we did the story time, we did the sleepover; we did everything that there was and that was our getaway.”

“And you hear it over and over again,” Preece said.

Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie founded 2,509 libraries in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, including 1,679 in the U.S.

Originally, Carnegie’s vision “was to educate and bring in the immigrant populations and ‘Americanize’ them,” Preece said, teaching them English and helping them understand democracy and how to better themselves.

Public libraries remain an equalizer. With the help of Tri-County Literacy tutors, adults today are learning to read at the library, becoming proficient enough to handle their checking account and read a newspaper.

With the economic downturn and the 2011 closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station, Preece got a grant through the Senter Fund for a job information center to support people losing jobs.

And of course there’s access to lots of books. As members of the Minerva Consortium of more than 60 libraries, the Topsham Public Library offers access to university, health, hospital and elementary school collections in addition to is own. Patrons can request a book online and have it in the library within five days.

The library is also a member of the OverDrive Consortium, an e-book and audio book download service, and actually offers an advance selection for its card-holders.

“We see so many people are using our resources and never stepping foot in the building,” Preece said. “I myself have gotten into a book series and at 2 o’clock in the morning thought ‘Oh my gosh, I have to read the next thing.’ And from my bed in my jammies, pull out my Kindle, put in my library card number and if it’s available, I downloaded it and read the next three chapters.”

Involved in libraries for 40 years, Preece said it used to be librarians could point to a book page and say “Here’s the answer to your question.”

With Google and the free databases available online, people are asking much more difficult questions, “and we’re able to provide answers to questions 20 years ago I would have been sending people to a university library or a hospital library” to answer.

Topsham’s library has offerings that range from Shakespeare plays to the latest graphic novels. Preece said a good varied collection is key.

It’s also a community center for all ages.

“We want to get everybody to connect to whatever it is that their information needs are, their entertainment needs, their enlightenment needs, and then to each other,” Preece said. “That’s one of the neat things about the library, that people serendipitously find one another here.”

Like the group of people looking for a place to knit and “all of a sudden we have a program called Sip and Stitch that is on Saturday mornings.”

There is a teen room in the building where teens can hang out, do art projects and use the WiFi. Teen librarian and assistant library director Cyndi Burne has her finger on the pulse of teens, Preece said. She gives them enough room to run things themselves — like choosing their own book for discussions — but can reel them back in if needed.

The story times are so important for young children, Preece said, as “we don’t teach nursery rhymes anymore.”

“There’s a whole set of skills that children learn through repetition, through nursery rhymes,” she added, “through sitting in a large group with other kids learning how to pay attention; learning to take turns.”

From free tax preparation and music performances to walking on the trail to the river, it’s about education, access to information and access to community — and “it’s whatever the community wants,” Preece said.

There are about 4,000 active card holders currently. A library card is free to Topsham residents (bring an ID and something containing your address). For non-residents, cards cost $40 for an adult and $10 for children 18 and younger. Student cards are also available.

dmoore@timesrecord.com