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West Buxton Public Library
Established 1925
The West Buxton Public Library traces its beginnings back to 1925 when it was organized in the West
Buxton Baptist Church on the hill on River Road by the dam. TheMasonic Building, also on River Road in
West Buxton, was its second home until 1953 when service to the community went dormant. The library
emerged from its five-year dormancy in 1958 under the leadership of Edward M. Elwell. Its third and
current home is the former District #12 Schoolhouse (circa 1853) keeping its location in the West Buxton
Village area and still on the Saco River at #34. The resurrection of the library resulted from the perception
that such a facility was needed by the residents of the village area on both sides of the Saco River: Buxton
and Hollis. Currently the library is visited by citizens from Buxton, Hollis, Standish, and Limington.
The library’s operating budget is funded by the appropriations of the Town of Buxton and is supplemented
by book and bake sales, memorial gifts, miscellaneous gifts, andmany monetary donations and collections.
The library is staffed by dedicated volunteers who are knowledgeable and will aid the patrons with their
needs.The library also offers through the PortlandPublic Library the interlibrary loan system. Any resource
that cannot be provided by this library may be obtained through the interlibrary loan system.
2014 has been a year of many changes at the library. InMarch we began cataloguing our books online using
Library World, an online database. Using Library World, we are able to keep a current catalog of the books
in our library. We can keep track of what books are checked out, and by whom, and when they’re due back.
By September, we had the majority of our collection catalogued and so we began issuing new patron cards
(with barcodes) so that we could put the system into full use. One of our patrons’ favorite features is the
ability to go to our library’s web page to access our online catalog themselves. They are also able to request
books online directly from the online catalog and those books can be pulled from the shelf by the librarian
and be ready for pickup at the front desk when the patron next comes into the library! It took many extra
volunteer hours, both this year and in past years, to get this system up and running, but we are all enjoying
the many benefits of this program.
Further changes made this year is the rearranging that was done to provide Developing Readers with their
own room full of books to choose from, as they grow and move on from the picture books in the Children’s
Room. This has also allowed us to set up a shelf specifically for books that are new to our library, whether
they’re newly purchased by us or donated frommembers of the community.This makes it easy for frequent
visitors to discover what’s new at the library. We’ve also reintroduced the Paperback Exchange in our front
entryway. These books are free for the taking, and are continually being resupplied by the “take one, leave
one” policy that we encourage.
I look forward to seeing you at the library. We’ve got some good books waiting!
Amy Jajiliardo
Library Director