Footnotes: June 2026

Summer Saturdays (9am-1pm)

Closed Friday, June 19 for Juneteenth

Keep scrolling for the director's note, three vignettes, save the date, and one cool library resource!

If you’ve read a couple of these notes, you might have surmised that I am big on gratitude. Living in a state of thankfulness is crucial to good health, for most of us, anyway. This month, I want to echo the praises that many of you frequently give to my team. Every day I wake up grateful for the talent that surrounds me, as you can imagine, they also bring me great joy. They are always ready to help you find an item, navigate your device, reading your little one a story or presenting an event that adds some dimension to your life. This team also provides tremendous support for one another that enables us to bring the services that you need. Please check out this page to learn a little bit about this unparalleled staff: Library Staff | Scarborough Public Library

I also want to do a quick pitch the upcoming book sale from Friday June 26 - Sunday June 28. Full details are here: Book Sale! with the Friends of the Scarborough Library

Finally, we always need to thank you for coming to the library and making our profession purposeful and joyful.

Summer Reading Time!

For Adults:

Summer is almost here! On June 1 we'll kick off our Summer Learning Bingo game for adults. Pick up a bingo card filled with suggested reading categories and fun activities - let it be your inspiration to make the most of the short summer season! Submit your bingo card before August 31 when we'll draw for prizes including the grand prize, a library tote filled with goodies. Can't make it into the library? Print out a bingo card on our Summer Learning Page where you'll also find links to suggested reading and activities. Have fun!

Catherine Morrison

Adult Services Manager

PS: Feeling lazy or want to go your own way? We'll have five-book punch cards too. Every five books read this summer and written on the card becomes a raffle ticket for a smaller prize! For adult readers only (and teens reading adults books). --Elsa

For Kids:

Get ready for a summer filled with reading, creativity, and connection at the library! Our 2026 Summer Learning theme, Read • Create • Connect, celebrates the joy of learning together through books, activities, and shared experiences for all ages.

Join our Summer Learning Challenge and complete activities to earn brag tags, beads, a free book, and entries into exciting prize drawings when you complete the challenge! Throughout the summer, we’ll offer a wide variety of programs including camps, arts and crafts, drop-in activities, family events, pop-up early literacy programs, concerts, and even a Stuffy Sleepover Camp. Whether you love reading, creating, exploring, or simply spending time with your community, there’s something for everyone.

Visit our website for full details and schedules, and join us for a summer of fun, learning, creativity, and connection!

Deanna McNamara

Youth Services Manager

TED Democracy: Founding Futures, only at your library!

Many of us have learned a new word this year: Semiquincentennial. Also called the Bisesquicentennial, the Sestercentennial, or the Quarter Millennium, this Fourth of July will be the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. But wait, you say. This is the June Footnotes. Yes, it is, but we are beginning our celebrations early with a big huge fuss of a... livestream? Yes! It's a big deal!

Last fall, we applied to be part of the TED Democracy: Founding Futures event. Though the event is held in Philadephia, the organizers put out a call to libraries to participate. They chose approximately 65 libraries across the country, and only two in Maine, to host the livestream of this day of learning. From 11am-5:30pm, on Saturday, June 13, we’ll be livestreaming short TED talks on topics related to democracy. The full schedule will be listed on June 5 here (sign up now to get an email to be the first to know), and in the meantime, check out who they’ve got: www.visitphilly.com/things-to-do/events/ted-democracy-philadelphia-founding-futures/ There is no other way to watch this-- it will not be available for home viewing.

What else is planned for the 250th? Click here to see other USA at 250 events, with more to come.

Elsa Rowe

Community Engagement Manager

The New Generator is Official!

On May 21, the Scarborough Public Library welcomed a group of community members for a celebration to mark the installation of a new emergency generator.

The new emergency generator ensures that when the power goes out, the library will stay open as a safe, connected space where residents can access information, technology, and each other. It joins the broader network of emergency resources the Town of Scarborough offers, and we are proud to be part of that safety net.

The afternoon gave us a chance to honor the people who made it happen. We were delighted to recognize former Library Director Nancy Crowell, whose vision and persistence first put this project in motion, and current Library Director Chip Schrader, who carried it across the finish line. We also recognized Fire Chief Rich Kindelan, whose involvement was essential to making the generator project a reality.

We also had the chance to express our gratitude in person to the donors who contributed financially to the project. Events like this one remind us why we do this work. The library is a living part of this community, and we look forward to hosting more moments that celebrate what happens when a community comes together around a shared vision.

Thanks to everyone who joined us, and thank you to everyone who helped make this project happen. The library is ready for whatever comes next.

Kerstin Gilg

Development Coordinator

A New and Improved Video & Sound System, Happening This Week!

Thanks to a generous grant from Davis Family Foundation and a discount from Tucker & Tucker, a Scarborough-based media integration company, we’ll soon be unveiling a new and much improved video and sound system in our Meeting Room. This means a bigger screen, with brighter and more realistic colors; better sound, including assistive hearing devices, thanks to an additional grant from the AARP; and a more reliable and user-friendly control panel. We can’t wait for you to come see and hear it!

Tom Corbett

Systems Librarian

Save the Date!

Knitters every Saturday, 10am-12pm

Homework Help at the Library, Tuesdays 3-4:30pm

*A Youth Services Special Event

Adult Events

Youth Events

New Books!

One Cool Library Resource: Our Big Parking Lot, and a Culture of Thinking Outside the Box

It might seem silly to think of the library parking lot as a resource, but having visited many libraries across New England and many tiny parking lots, ours is pretty great. Not only is the size of it pretty decent, but we are lucky enough to have extra parking at the school lots just nearby when we have a really big event. It does come up!

Some of the cool things we've done in our parking lot in the past have been visits from the Tinker Bus, a portable climbing wall, a place to stretch and practice balance exercises before a walk, and our Friends of the Library Book Sales. And of course, our EV charger lives there year round!

This June, we're putting the parking lot to good use with a big free yard sale! We're calling it "Junk in the Trunk," and we're encouraging those who are doing some spring decluttering to reserve a parking spot and join us in giving it all away. Regular yard sales can be such a hassle-- maybe you live on a small street no one drives down, maybe parking at your house is an issue, maybe you live in an apartment. Plus, pricing things, haggling over prices-- is it even possible to have a yard sale without feeling a little bit cheated? BUT when you're giving it all away for free, those problems disappear, replaced with the joy in seeing your old things newly appreciated by someone else.

So, how does this work?

If you have stuff to give away:

Sign up for a parking spot. No dropping stuff off. You MUST sign up. Feel free to share a space with a friend! It could be a fun thing to do together!
Fill up your car with stuff to get rid of.
Drive to the library on June 27 between 8:30-9am and park in your reserved spot.
Pop the trunk, or unload your stuff onto a table.
STAY THERE. This is a yard sale format, not a "drop things at the dump" format.
Mix and mingle, shop the book sale, free shop from other people's spots, talk people into taking your old junk, etc.
At noon, take whatever is left over to the charity truck or the dump truck, or bring it back home with you.
Go out for ice cream! (or whatever you want to do on a Saturday, now with less clutter!)

If you are looking for free stuff:

Show up between 9am-12pm
Take whatever you want!
Spend the cash you saved at the Friends of the Scarborough Library Book Sale or consider a donation!

Also at this event, Sustaining Scarborough will be there to answer any questions you might have about Scarborough's sustainability initiatives, and they are open to suggestions!

The Maine Department of Transportation will be there to talk about the Portland West Balanced Mobility Improvement Study ongoing in your community. Ask them about expanding bus routes throughout Scarborough.

Project GRACE will be there, accepting donations for the food pantry and cash donations to help your neighbors in need. They will be arranging a dump truck and a charity truck. If you're grateful for that service, toss them a few bucks.

See you there! Don't forget to reserve your spot! Like the idea but can't do that day? We'll have another one in July!

Elsa Rowe

Community Engagement Manager

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Scarborough Public Library
48 Gorham Rd Scarborough, ME 04074
Phone: 207-883-4723

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