CARIBOU, Maine – Staff at the Caribou Public Library want more people to enjoy what the library offers, even if they don’t always step through the doors.
COVID forever changed the way people work and communicate. As more people began working from home but lacked internet access, Library Director Peter Baldwin found a way to bridge the local connectivity gap.
With $5,000 from the Maine State Library’s Remote Connectivity Program, funded with federal COVID relief monies, the library began a hotspots and laptop loan program this fall. Folks can check out one of 11 kits that include a mobile hotspot router, a laptop or both, along with a portable laptop keypad.
The kits are available for two-week periods but people can check out their kit again for at least one month, after which they can check out a different kit if necessary, Baldwin said.
People who have checked out kits so far have ranged from young professionals working from home to senior citizens, Baldwin noted. The kits are designed for anyone who lacks internet connection at home.
“One person said they were beginning to work from home and didn’t have their internet set up yet,” Baldwin said. “We also saw an elderly man who did not have a laptop or internet at home and was excited to connect with family and people from his past.”
The library’s current Remote Connectivity grant will last one year but Baldwin hopes to continue the loan program with more funding and expand it to residents at the Rose Acres senior apartments and Caribou Rehab & Nursing Center.
Library staff are also looking to bring back a program where people can get assistance with setting up devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops. That program is especially helpful for senior citizens who are less familiar with those technologies, Baldwin said.
Even with today’s modern devices, most people still associate libraries with books. That’s why the library also plans to launch a new bookmobile in spring 2024.
This fall, Baldwin purchased a white Dodge Ram van from Percy’s Auto Sales in Presque Isle for $36,422. The purchase was possible thanks to several grants and donations: $20,000 from the American Library Association’s Rural Accessibility grant funds, $10,000 from the Maine Community Foundation, $1,000 from an anonymous donor and $1,422 from the Roderick Family Living Trust.
Baldwin and staff will line the van’s interior with bookshelves, install a ramp for people with mobility challenges and repaint the exterior with a more eye-popping design and logo. They will initially take the bookmobile to daycare centers, senior apartments and rehab and nursing homes but hopes to later visit local schools and libraries in surrounding towns and create traveling museum exhibits.
The bookmobile will eventually offer book, internet hotspot and library material deliveries to people’s homes, Baldwin said. It’s a project he has been trying to launch since becoming Caribou’s library director in 2021.
“It will be a cool way for us to get out of the building and reach people where they are,” Baldwin said.
As the library looks toward the new year, Baldwin and staff have been gathering public feedback on current and future programs. They collected 450 completed surveys during Election Day at the recreation center and have seen several more come in since then. Copies are available at the library’s front desk.
So far, many surveys have revealed a common tread, Baldwin noted. There’s still a tendency to view libraries only as places for children to check out books and take part in storytime with librarians.
But libraries focus on so much more, including study areas for students, spaces for meetings and events and historical archives, Baldwin said. Staff members regularly answer questions on where to find other community services.
“We want to fully gauge the community’s interests and needs and see what we might focus more or less on,” Baldwin said. “Our job is providing services to the entire community.”
