TOUR THE LIBRARY
We have made this page for those of you who can't visit us as often as you might like.
The front of the Library, on Main Street, looks very much today as it did when the Library was built in 1895. You can see a picture of it at about that time, on our History of the Library page. The library was designed by summer resident, Eleazer B. Homer, whose family volunteer and support the Library.
This is a view of the expanded library as seen from Village Green Way, before our garden was planted. The original building is way over on the right – you can just see the skylight in its roof.
A quiet place to read by the fireplace in what was, in 1895, the whole Library! For the 1983 expansion, Julia Speakman and her brother kindly gave funds for the restoration of the paneling and new skylights, in memory of Anson Irving and Avelia Smallidge Holmes. At the time of our most recent addition, in the year 2000, the Homer family gave a gift to restore the fireplace. Fires now warm the Holmes Reading Room again.
Our periodical collection in another part of the Reading Room.
Most magazines can be checked out for one week, and of our 110 active subscriptions, 49 of them are gifts from friends of the Library!
The Circulation Desk by the Village Green entrance. Note the stained glass cornice designed by artists, Ann Seavey and Susa Wuorinen. You can see more pictures of it, and learn about how it was designed, by clicking the Circulation Desk button on the left and then clicking the Stained Glass button.
The present Young Adult Room, adjacent to the Reference Room, donated by Philip and Sherry Geyelin. Children’s Librarian, Susan Plimpton, has grand plans for this room. Among other things, she is holding a contest for kids to give it a new name. Stay tuned!
Our Nate Salisbury Reference Room, now greatly expanded online, also holds our Maine Collection.
A link to the world, our Public Access Computers! The computers are busy all the time as people do research, read the news…and answer their mail.
The original Children’s Room was built and dedicated to children’s books (as opposed to shelves set aside for their books)
in 1955 using funds received from a bequest from Miss Grace Simmons.
In 2000 Charles A. Heimbold Jr. gave a gift for the new Children’s Room in honor of his aunt, Mary Heimbold McCluskey, a teacher.
It is now a place of teddy bears, comfortable chairs, child-friendly bookshelves, an occasional Elf, and, of course,
frequent visits from the Reader Dog!
Non-fiction stacks, on the second floor of the new addition. Part of the stained glass cornice is visible at the bottom of the stairs.
The Katherine R. Heimbold Reading Room, a second floor sanctuary, is almost always in use. When there are other things going on in the Children’s Room, Children’s Story Hours sometimes meet here. On Wednesday nights it is filled with knitters.
The Clark Room, originally a gift from the family of Captain Nathan Clarke, 1780 – 1848, another gift came to the Southwest Harbor Public Library in honor of the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Arthur and Rebecca Clark Foote from their children and grandchildren on August 6, 1983. In 2000, the family again gave a gift to the Library. This meeting room is available to everyone, but it is often in service. To reserve this space, contact one of the librarians.
The Village Green entrance of the 2000 addition after a February snow.