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Bangor Public Library at 145 Harlow Street

Reference librarian helps patrons in person

Christie Coombs, Reference Department, helping folks with a reference question.

Reference librarian helps patrons by phone

Patrick Layne finds himself answering a call-in reference question. At Bangor Public Library the phone is the second most popular means of getting reference questions answered. Still holding the number one spot is face to face service.

The Bangor Public Library — a Gem to all those in Eastern and Northern Maine

Downeast Magazine in a North by East Column in February 2007 did a short article on the value of Bangor Public Library’s reference staff entitled, “Even Google can’t match a good Maine librarian.”

The Bangor Public Library serves as the Area Reference and Resource Center for Northern and Eastern Maine. Its collection holds over 500,000 volumes of books, periodicals, government documents and recordings. The Library has one of the highest per capita circulation rates in the United States and sends more interlibrary loans each year than any other Library in New England. Any Maine resident may use the Library and borrow books from its collection.

Reference Department

The Reference Department answers questions from patrons and helps the public use their collection to the fullest extent possible. Questions range from students doing papers for school to businesses seeking hard-to-find information. The Reference Staff helps tourists locate streets or genealogists find their roots. Reference Staff can help find lyrics to a song or the latest value of a collectible. The Reference Department uses electronic resources, the Internet, personal contacts, and, of course, the books in the Library to find the answers to patron’s questions.

This past year the Reference staff at Bangor Public Library answered 34,077 questions.

In-House 20,909
By Phone 8,439
By Mail 261
By E-mail 2,960
Local History 1,508

What is significant is that in 1999 2,421 individuals sent their questions in by mail. Each year since then the number of inquiries coming through the mail has dropped off significantly just as the number of email questions has risen. Face to face contact with a person at the Reference Desk and telephone inquiries have remained fairly constant through this same time period.

An old library principle admonishes the library professional that he or she must get the right book to the right person at the right time. Today’s librarian must also get that right information in the right format.

Online Databases

The Library continues to purchase database subscriptions to Gale Reference Center Gold, Biography Resource Center, Ancestry Plus and Heritage Quest. Patrons have access to MARVEL! the statewide database subscriptions funded through the University of Maine and the Maine State Library.

Public Service

Even with the improvement in online search engines such as Google and the availability of the subscription databases, use of the flesh and blood people in the Reference Department remains constant. Bangor Public Library is known for its public service to the people of this region of the state. Other libraries also contact Bangor's Reference Desk for assistance in finding answers that require a more in depth approach with materials that often are too expensive for smaller library collections.

Commitment to public service and assisting other libraries make this giant a true gem in the world of information.

More about the Bangor Public Library

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