My wife and I are retired from careers as librarians and library science faculty. We hold library cards for Orr’s Island, Curtis Memorial, and our library system back home — Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.
With 37 branches and more than 3 million items (clinically barcoded and digitally cataloged), our Erie County library system serves us well. But the library we hold dear is on Orr’s Island. This little haven, as curated by Librarian Joanne Rogers, is the beating heart of Harpswell. This has nothing to do with automation. It’s the unforgettable programs and presentations, new series awaiting discovery on the display table, chats with strangers around jigsaw puzzles, food drives, browsing photos in the local history room.
We met Joanne Rogers on our first visit to Maine in 1981 and consider her the finest public librarian we know. Her commitment to community is what gives the Orr’s Island Library its “sense of place.” The library board’s decision to fire her certainly doesn’t represent the two of us as library users. If it doesn’t represent you either, help set the historical record straight. Write to our newspaper of record, the Harpswell Anchor. Don’t let the library board dictate the narrative of this misguided action.
Bruce and Judith Robinson, Getzville, New York
