The Physical Library: Getting Back to its Roots on the Outside, Always Changing on the Inside

When picturing a library building, the image that springs to mind for many is the “classic” library: usually brick or stone, maybe pillars or statuary of some sort flanking the front doors… a solid, old building. We have many such library buildings in the state (the Patten Free library in Bath, the Walker Memorial Library in Westbrook and the Pittsfield Public Library being some of my favorites). Over the years, most have had additions made to the buildings – to varying degrees of success – to accommodate the changing needs of the library in the community.

South Portland, however, does not have a “classic” old library building. We have a concrete and glass structure, which some might assume was an upgrade to or replacement of an older facility in the city’s past. The Main Library building is actually the City’s first municipal public library, and it only came into being in 1966, making us one of the youngest public libraries in the state.

While there were unsuccessful efforts in the 1930’s to establish a public library for the city, it took an eighth grade social studies class at South Portland Junior High School, led by teacher Terence Christy, to really get the ball rolling. The class gathered research and opinion on public libraries and petitioned the City Council in 1964, making the case that a community the size of South Portland deserved a public library. The City Council responded, and the construction of a public library for South Portland became a community priority.

Here’s a fun, possibly apocryphal, side note: a letter written to the City Council making the case for a library stated that the “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” newspaper comic had featured, as fact, that South Portland, Maine, was the only large community in the United States without a public library. I’ve spoken with folks with Ripley’s and have yet to be able to confirm that this ever actually existed. If the Ripley’s panel exists, I’d love to have a copy framed and on display at the library!

Main Library concept art, 1965, John H. Leasure and Associates

In 1966, what is now the Main Library was opened to the public. Designed by John H. Leasure, the building was a well-regarded early example of modern architecture in the state of Maine. As someone who was born after the 1966 construction of the building, I affectionately refer to the style as ‘Brady Bunch Modern.’ Nowadays, though, the style could also be seen as ‘Mad Men Cool,’ I suppose.

Our building has many architectural siblings elsewhere in the city and the region. Other buildings designed by Mr. Leasure are the pool wing of the community center (which predates the main community center building proper), Cash Corner fire station and the small Bank of America building located in the Hannaford parking lot near the Maine Mall. Over in Portland, our two, much taller, architectural relatives are the Holiday Inn By the Bay and Franklin Towers.

Over the past few years, we have been making efforts to clean up and return our building to its original appearance. New landscaping removed years of overgrowth from around the building, making for a much more striking street side presence. A just completed paint job not only cleaned up the building, but also tied several architectural elements together, returning the exterior appearance closer to Mr. Leasure’s original design.

While space is a definite need, what we do within the space we have is ever changing, and the open design of the building lends itself to this. Massive card catalog cabinets and tables filled with large reference books have given way to public computer clusters, DVD collections and flexible use space as the needs of our community have changed, and our building has proved quite adaptable.

Ultimately, the library is not the building, but the people, services and the collections housed within. Having a nice building to do it all in sure does help, though, and our building has worked very well as a public library for the past 47 years.

Kevin M. Davis, Director, South Portland Public Library

This post was originally published as a Library Links column in the South Portland-Cape Elizabeth Sentry on November 11, 2013