LIBERTY, Maine — Libraries are thought of as quiet places, but that idea clearly doesn’t include the laughter of Barbara Rehmeyer.
She is the librarian at the small Liberty Library, and her laughter can be heard from across the room.
Barbara, who had been a teacher and a school librarian before taking charge of the Liberty Public Library, loves what she does.
“I [always] had a love of reading, I loved my school library, and love, love children’s books.”
Her enthusiasm helped create the small library in 1995 when a group of Liberty residents got together and decided it was time for their town to have one.
The library initially was in a tiny building down the street, but when the fire department moved out of its fire station to a larger building, the library took over and made itself a warm and welcoming spot in the center of the village.
“Our book budget is about 4,000 a year,” Barbara said and added that the total budget is only $30,000 per year.
But she said small scale doesn’t mean a lack of books.
They are part of a consortium of small Maine libraries that share books, and a statewide internet book loan program, both of which deliver every week. Patrons, Barbara said, can order online and have their books in a few days.
That program is just one of many aspects of library life that Barbara manages, a fact that attracted her attention to an item in a newsletter from a national association of small, rural libraries.
“The Solo Librarian of the Year award,” Barbara read online, “will go to one of our members who wears the most hats of all. Librarians who run the show all on their own.”
It was an invitation for librarians to self-nominate for a national award.
So she did.
A few weeks ago, Barbara was notified that she had been named the association’s National Solo Librarian of the Year.
“I was dumbfounded, actually,” she laughed.
Then humility took over.
“But then I got thinking about it. How many libraries are there in the US with one single, solo librarian? Probably not that many… Some in Maine, some in Vermont, some maybe some in the Midwest. But you do have to put it in perspective.”
That hasn’t stopped others in Liberty from cheering.
Former town clerk Gail Phillipi had plenty of praise for Barbara.
“I wasn’t surprised, but very happy,” Philippi said. “Because Barbara is so good at what she does.”
Pete Beckford, one of several volunteer librarians who help with the workload, was enthusiastic as well.
“It’s a total thrill, a thrill for the library and everyone who works here.“
Barbara said the activity at the library has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit three years ago.
Many people who used to visit the library in person, she said, no longer do. Instead, they order books online or take advantage of the library's Hoopla app to borrow and download audiobooks.
But she said that even if those people never come through the door, they are still using the library.
Despite all those digital changes, Barbara said there will continue to be a need for libraries.
“Yes it’s a place to come borrow material, but it's also a place to gather and socialize and have programs,” she said
Making sure there are always many ways to make the library essential, may be job one for the solo librarian of the year.