The Lonely Books Club, an original program designed to encourage children to read notable children’s books in the library’s collection that no longer circulate, has brought national recognition to Cape Elizabeth’s library.

Thomas Memorial Library will 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 U.S. 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, will receive a plaque and $1,000 at the American Library Association National Conference in Anaheim, Calif., in June. The Public Library Association is a division of the American Library Association, the oldest and largest library association in the world. ESBSCO, which co-sponsors the award, is a company that provides online research databases to libraries worldwide.

“I came up with the program because there were all kinds of great books sitting on shelves that kids never read. I tried putting them on display shelves and recommending them, but it didn’t work,” Davis said. “So I came up with the Lonely Books Club to get kids to give these books a chance, and it took off.”

Although, because of space limitations, the library gives away some old books that haven’t been circulated or read, many older books, particularly those that have won awards, are kept.

“A lot of these books won Newbury awards in the 1940s or ’50s or ’60s, but the picture on the cover might look unappealing or out of date and they’re no longer shiny,” Davis said.

Davis’ application for the award focused entirely on the Lonely Books Club, which begin in April 2007 and is sponsored by the Rotary Club of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth.

Children who wish to join the club must be in Grade 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. More than two-thirds of the books on the Lonely Books Club list have been read since the program began.

The club currently has more than 60 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,” or “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.”

“It has been a great tool for kids to understand that it’s not important how a book looks, but it’s the story inside that’s important,” Davis said.

A CLOSER LOOK

For more information about the Lonely Books Club or the library, call 799-1720.

The library Web site is www.capeelizabeth.com/library.