Over the last two decades, plans to renovate and expand the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library (BHML) have been proposed and debated by townspeople in both Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor. Last year, the library's board of trustees placed the current plan to enlarge the library and upgrade its services on hold while they address long-neglected building maintenance problems. In 2007, the BHML trustees launched the library's first-ever fund-raising campaign to cover both maintenance costs and budget shortfalls. At last Wednesday's Boothbay Harbor Budget Committee meeting, BHML treasurer Skip Kreahling reported that this first fund-raising campaign had been a success.

The trustees set the fund-raising campaign's goal at $47,000 and encouraged donors to contribute in multiples of the number 47. Donations large and small have poured in, many accompanied by heartfelt letters of support. Trustees president Genie O'Connell said that she has been "extremely gratified" with the positive response from both the local and summer community to the library fund-raiser. She notes that the largest number of donations have come from the local community and she seems as genuinely pleased with the small donations as with the large. "We've had lots of good comments . . . People have been very generous," O'Connell said. O'Connell noted that she was told to expect about a one percent return on their campaign mailing, but the actual return has been almost 10 percent.

O'Connell remarked that although the library truly needed the campaign to cover its expenses, it also needed to prove that it could raise funds. "We needed to do it because we needed the money," she said, ". . . but the other part was that we have never done a fund-raising campaign. We needed to prove to ourselves, as well as the community, that we could undertake a fund-raising campaign. If at any point, we want to do significant renovations to the building, it's going to have to be a much more significant fund-raising campaign." She said that over the past year the trustees have been learning how best to approach fund-raising and that this learning process has been invaluable.

At the budget committee meeting, Kreahling provided a detailed summary of the library's yearly income and expenses. The library is requesting $35,000 from the towns of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor this year, as it did last year. Kreahling reported that this level of support by the towns would cover about 32 percent of the library's annual budget. The rest of the library's budget is financed by private donations, the Friends of the Library Used Bookstore, and the library's endowment. Kreahling noted that relative to other libraries in the state, the level of local municipal support for the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library is relatively low. "In terms of support from the towns, if you compare communities of a similar size, we have the fourth lowest level of support," said Kreahling. "Forty-three other towns in that grouping all have a higher rate of support for their libraries." When asked, Kreahling reported that on average similar-sized towns provide about 75 percent of their public library's budget.

Both O'Connell and Kreahling expect the fund-raising campaign to be an annual event. "It will be essential for the library's long-term stability to have a formal annual campaign," Kreahling told the budget committee. Kreahling listed the $50,000 worth of maintenance projects that had been recently completed -- new boiler, painting, lights, mold removal--and 23 other projects that need to be accomplished soon, such as repairing the deteriorating walkways and roof. Some of these projects must be completed to meet insurance standards. O'Connell pointed to less pressing, but also essential renovations, like a functional public restroom and private staff work areas. O'Connell also noted an area that often gets overlooked, "We've spent so much time and energy on physical needs that we've neglected our staff . . . They should be getting some benefits that they are not getting." Kreahling's detailed budget revealed that library staff members receive no health insurance benefits.

Kreahling said that the trustees are more encouraged with the library's prospects this year than in any recent year, primarily because of the annual campaign and the maintenance that has been accomplished.

Judging by the trustees' accomplishments and vision for the library, the 30,000 patrons who used the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library this year have room to be encouraged as well.