Auburn Public Library is the public library of

Auburn, Maine Auburn is a city in south-central Maine within the United States. The city serves as the county seat of Androscoggin County. The population was 24,061 at the 2020 census. Auburn and its sister city Lewiston are known locally as the Twin Cities ...

. It is located at 49 Spring Street.

History

The library's main building was built in 1903 with a donation from

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, and the building was designed by architect William R. Miller in a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

style. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1984. State Representative and one time Mayor of Auburn George C. Wing Jr. was President of the Auburn Public Library's Board of Trustees from 1939 to 1951. The library building was expanded in 1956 and again in 2006 to accommodate a growing user community and additional services. The current library is twice the size of the original 1904 building. Care was taken during the 2006 expansion to stay true to the original architecture of the building, earning the library a Statewide Historic Preservation Honor Award from Maine Preservation in 2007. In the fall of 2012, the library opened a Media Lab that provides access to computers, cameras, scanners, and other equipment for creating

digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...

such as video, photographs, and music. An independently owned cafe operates on the ground floor of the library. Teen participation became an integral part of the library when in the summer of 2003 the first Teen Summer Reading Program was introduced by librarian Sally Holt with the support of Rosemary Waltos, Director and Steve Bouchard, Reference Department Head. Friends of the Auburn Public Library played an instrumental role by funding the program. Friends of Maine Libraries continued funding the program that fall. The teen program has grown to be one of the largest most well-attended teen public library programs in the state. Teens are a special piece of the fabric at APL.

References

External links

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Auburn Library Official Website
{{authority control Library buildings completed in 1903 Public libraries in Maine Buildings and structures in Auburn, Maine Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Libraries in Androscoggin County, Maine Government of Auburn, Maine Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Education in Auburn, Maine Carnegie libraries in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Androscoggin County, Maine 1903 establishments in Maine

History

See also

References

External links