Maine Libraries: Much more than just great books!

You probably already knew that you could borrow more than just books at your local public library. However, are you aware of all of the benefits that come with your Maine library card?

For example, you are able to download digital books via the Libby app in case you can’t get to the library to borrow a physical book. Also, many libraries offer reciprocal resident benefits. So, even though I live in Kennebunk, I can use all that the Wells Public Library has to offer, thanks to that reciprocal program.

Also, some libraries offer electric vehicle charging or are warming centers and charging stations after a storm. And I’ve even enjoyed a night of trivia at the Kennebunk Free Library.

Unexpected Maine Library Card Benefits

This article, though, outlines some of the unexpected benefits that come with your library card, such as unusual things you can borrow from the library. Many Maine libraries calls these the “Library of Things.”

Case in point: I took the picture above at the Kennebunk Free Library, showing that you can borrow/use yarn and other tools for knitting and crocheting. However, I’ve since discovered that you can borrow a sewing machine from the same library branch.

A sewing machine from the public library? Who knew.

But the list gets better from there. Through my own research and asking people I know who use libraries throughout Southern Maine, I’ve put together this list of unexpected benefits and services that come with having a free library card.

For example, many libraries stock museum passes for the community to use. What this actually means is that your local library can make a reservation for you at a museum they’ve partnered with and, in exchange, you get free or heavily discounted admission. Also, many have puzzles and games to borrow.

Libraries are listed in alphabetical order by geography. I’ve created a bulleted list of things you can borrow from them or other unusual services they offer, along with contact information for each library, if it was available.

Acton

Acton Public Library, 35 H Road, Acton, ME 04001, 207-636-2781

• Fishing Rods
• Discs for Disc Golf
• Ice Cream Makers
• Power Washer
• Food Dehydrator
• Air Fryer
• Snowshoes
• Puzzles

Alfred

Parsons Memorial Library, 27 Saco Rd, Alfred, ME 04002, 207.324.2001

• Games
• Toys
• Puzzles
• Cake pans
• Snowshoes

Plus, your library card benefits include museum passes for free or discounted admission to the following:

• Brick Store Museum, Kennebunk
• Children’s Museum + Theatre of Maine, Portland
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay

Berwick

Berwick Public Library, 103 Old Pine Hill Rd., Berwick, ME 03901, 207-698-5737

• Practice DMV tests for cars, motorcycles and CDL
• Recreational equipment, including a tent and an inflatable kayak
• Tools (Hammer drill / impact driver kit, electricity monitor, fruit tree harvester, Earthway Bag Seeder/Spreader Hand Crank, soldering gun utility kit, portable air compressor, hand wand seeder)
• Games and puzzles
• Musical instruments (two guitars and two ukuleles)

Biddeford

McArthur Public Library, 270 Main St, Biddeford, Maine, 04005, 207 284 4181

• Buckets of sand are delivered to residents age 65 and over in the winter, upon request
• Fishing poles
• Snowshoes
• Lawn games
• Telescope
• Binoculars
• Wi-Fi hotspots

Brunswick

Curtis Memorial Library, 23 Pleasant Street, Brunswick, ME 04011, (207) 725-5242

There are 400+ items in the Curtis Memorial Library of Things that you can borrow from this Brunswick Library. Some of those items include sports equipment, such as field hockey, hockey or lacrosse sticks, each with balls, mini Bundt cake pans, tripod, guitar amp and much, much more.

Here are the Library of Things categories and how many items are in each category:

• Art (3)
• Assistive Technology (4)
• Books & Media (3)
• Clothing (1)
• Education (19)
• Electrical Equipment (1)
• Electronics (30)
• Furniture & Spaces (17)
• Hobbies & Crafts (54)
• Kitchen & Dining (80)
• Medical Equipment (1)
• More (1)
• Music (17)
• Party & Events (1)
• Science & Engineering (15)
• Sports & Outdoors (48)
• Tools (107)
• Toys & Games (39)

In addition to the Library of Things, library card holders can borrow museum and park passes, Mobile hotspots or a laptop.

Buxton

Berry Memorial Library, 93 Main Street, Buxton, Maine 04093, 207 929 5484

• Take and Make Craft Packets for Kids
• Community Pass for Southworth Planetarium in Portland, Maine. It admits a Family of up to 6 members for free.

Cape Elizabeth

Thomas Memorial Library, 6 Scott Dyer Road, Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107, 207-799-1720

Museum and park passes to the following:

• Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
• Maine Historical Society
• Maine Maritime Museum
• Maine State Park Pass
• Maine Wildlife Park
• Portland Museum of Art
• Southworth Planetarium

Cumberland

Prince Memorial Library, 266 Main Street, Cumberland, ME 04021, (207) 829-2215

Passes to:

• Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
• Farnsworth Art Museum
• Maine Maritime Museum
• Maine State Parks Vehicle Pass
• Maine Wildlife Park
• Portland Museum of Art

East Waterboro

Waterboro Public Library, 187 Main Street, East Waterboro, ME 04030, (207) 247-3363

Passes to:

• Brick Store Museum
• Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
• Maine Wildlife Park
• Maine State Parks (Note: This pass cannot be used toward camping in Maine State Park campgrounds. A 17 person vehicle is the maximum size allowed with this pass. Also, park passes are not accepted at Acadia National Park, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Baxter State Park, Maine Wildlife Park, Peacock Beach, Penobscot Narrows Observatory, Penobscot River Corridor, Scarborough Beach, Songo Lock or Swan Island.)

Falmouth

Falmouth Memorial Library, 5 Lunt Road, Falmouth, ME 04105, (207) 781-2351

• Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
• Maine State Parks Vehicle Pass
• Portland Museum of Art

Freeport

Freeport Community Library, 10 Library Drive, Freeport, ME 04032, 207-865-3307

Freeport’s Library of Things currently has more than a dozen diverse items available to borrow, such as:

• American Girl Doll kit
• Mobile hotspot
• Electricity Monitor
• Home Air Quality monitor
• Radon detector
• Memory kit
• iPhone charger
• Android charger
• Vermicomposting harvest kit (so you can get started with home composting)
• Nintendo Switch
• External CD/DVD drive
• Snap circuits
• Binoculars
• Food dehydrator

Also, one of your library card benefits is free passes or passes for reduced admission to the following museums and other New England attractions:

• Children’s Museum and Theater of Maine
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (May-October)
• Desert of Maine (May-October)
• Maine State Park Vehicle Passes
• Maine Wildlife Park (April-November)
• Museum of Science, Boston
• New England Aquarium
• Portland Museum of Art
• Winslow Park

When not using the library, here are things to do in Freeport.

Gorham

Baxter Memorial Library, 71 South Street, Gorham, ME 04038, (207) 222-1190

• Telescope
• Metal detector
• Ukuleles
• Let’s Move Packs that include bird watching, dog training, yoga, and fitness kits
• Passes to Maine Wildlife Park, Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine and USM’s Southworth Planetarium

Kennebunk

Kennebunk Free Library, 112 Main Street, Kennebunk, ME 04043, 207-985-2173

• Yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks
• Puzzles
• Board games
• Nintendo Switch games
• Bean bag toss
• Ukuleles
• Sewing machine

Also, KFL has an extensive collection of museum passes for free and discounted admission to the following Maine cultural attractions:

• Brick Store Museum
• Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
• Portland Museum of Art
• Southworth Planetarium
• Seashore Trolley Museum
• Strawbery Banke Museum
• Ogunquit Museum of American Art
• Maine State Park Passes (Note: Pass cannot be used toward camping in Maine State Park campgrounds. Also, Pass is not accepted at Baxter State Park, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Penobscot River Corridor, Penobscot Narrows Observatory, Maine Wildlife Park, Peacock Beach, Scarborough Beach and Acadia National Park.)

Finally, KFL has started to foster cats from the Animal Welfare Society in West Kennebunk. So, while you cannot borrow a cat from the Kennebunk Free Library, you can go visit with one for free.

Kennebunkport

Louis T. Graves Memorial Library, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, (207) 967-2778

• Museum passes to Brick Store Museum, Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Portland Museum of Art, Seashore Trolley Museum and Ogunquit Museum of American Art
• Electricity usage monitor (can be checked out and returned, a library patron told me)
• Crafts to go for children
• Coffee urns
• Table cloths
• Wine glasses
• Artists tents
• Chairs
• Puzzles
• Projector screens

Kittery

Rice Public Library, 8 Wentworth Street, Kittery, ME 03904, 207-439-1553

The Rice Library in Kittery might just have one of the largest collections of museum passes I’ve seen so far offered as part of your library card benefits. Perhaps it is because of Kittery’s location on the border with New Hampshire that its museum passes include places to go in Maine as well as New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

The museum passes here, for free or significantly reduced admission, include:

• Boston Museum of Fine Arts
• Children’s Museum of New Hampshire
• Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (open May through October only)
• Historic New England
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
• Boston Museum of Science
• New England Aquarium (Boston)
• Ogunquit Museum of American Art (open May through October only)
• Peabody Essex Museum
• Portland Museum of Art
• Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne Point
• Strawbery Banke

Finally, this library also has a telescope you can borrow for free.

Limerick

Limerick Public Library, 55 Washington Street, Limerick, ME 04048, (207) 793-8975

• Vehicle Code Reader
• Metal Detector
• Museum Passes (Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine and Maine Wildlife Museum)
• Kill-A-Watt Energy Detector
• Backpacks for Birding, Nature, Night Sky and Bug Viewing
• Telescope
• Ukuleles

New Gloucester

New Gloucester Public Library, 379 Intervale Road, New Gloucester, ME 04260, (207) 926-4840

• Kayaks
• Canoes
• Passes can be checked out for (Maine Wildlife Park, Maine State Parks and Children’s Museum + Theatre of Maine)

North Berwick

D.A. Hurd Library, 41 High Street, North Berwick, ME 03906, (207) 676-2215

• Guitar
• Ukulele
• Electricity Monitor
• Birding Backpacks
• Grief Kit
• Sled
• Snow Block Mold
• Gardening Seeds

Old Orchard Beach

Libby Memorial Library, 27 Staples Street, Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064, 207.934.4351

• Kindles
• Museum Passes (Portland Museum of Art, Southworth Planetarium, Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine, Maine Wildlife Park)

Portland

There are four locations or branches for the Portland Public Library. They are:

• Downtown
• Burbank
• Peaks Island
• Riverton

Not everything available in the Portland Public Library’s “Library of Things” is available at each branch. Search the main Portland Public Library site to find out which brand you need to visit so you can borrow things like a Mobile HotSpot, microscope or museum passes, among other items.

Raymond

Raymond Village Library, 3 Meadow Road, Raymond, ME 04071, (207) 655-4283

Use your library card to borrow passes to:

• Maine Wildlife Park
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
• Maine State Parks
• Railway Village Museum
• Children’s Museum and Theatre
• Southworth Planetarium

Saco

Dyer Library, 371 Main Street, Saco, ME 04072, (207) 283-3861

Free and discounted passes to:

• Maine Wildlife Park
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
• Maine State Parks
• Railway Village Museum
• Children’s Museum and Theatre

Scarborough

Scarborough Public Library, 48 Gorham Road, Scarborough, ME 04074, (207) 883-4723

Passes to:

• Children’s Museum and Theatre
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
• Maine State Parks
• Maine Wildlife Park

South Berwick

South Berwick Public Library, 27 Young Street, South Berwick, ME 03908, (207) 384-3308

• NOOK e-readers
• Wheelchair
• Knee stroller
• Walker
• Crutches

Passes you can use in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. These include:

• Children’s Museum & Theater of Maine, Portland, ME
• Children’s Museum of New Hampshire Dover, NH
• Historic New England (offers free admission for two people to the 36 properties)
• Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA
• Museum of Science in Boston
• Portland Museum of Art Portland, ME
• Seacoast Science Center Rye, NH
• Strawbery Banke Portsmouth, NH
• Maine State Park Pass

South Portland

There are two branch locations for the South Portland Public Library: 482 Broadway and 155 Wescott Road.

One of the benefits of being a library cardholder is access to passes to:

• Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
• Farnsworth Art Museum
• Portland Observatory
• Maine State Parks Vehicle Pass (cannot be reserved; pick up in person only)
• Maine Wildlife Park
• Portland Museum of Art

Springvale

Springvale Public Library, 443 Main Street, Springvale, ME 04083, (207) 324-4624

In addition to museum passes to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and the Children’s Museum + Theatre of Maine, the Springvale Public Library is well-known for its spice library.

Currently, there are 33 spices you can borrow, one tablespoon at a time. Here is the list:

• Adobo
• Amchur Powder (dry mango powder)
• Bay Leaves
• Berbere Ethiopian Seasoning
• Caraway Seed
• Cardamom (decorticated)
• Black Cardamom, Black
• Green Cardamom, Green
• Chinese Five Spice
• Chipotle Chili Powder
• Cinnamon Sticks
• Cloves
• Coriander
• Coriander Seeds
• Cumin Seeds
• Cumin, Ground
• Dill Weed
• Fennel Powder
• Fennel Seeds
• Fenugreek
• Fish Sauce
• Garam Masala Powder
• Ginger, Ground
• Grains of Paradise
• Harissa
• Italian Seasoning
• Juniper Berries
• Mexene Chili Powder
• Organic Ground Cumin
• Paprika, Smoked
• Paprika, Spanish
• Red Chili Powder
• Saffron
• Sesame Oil
• Sesame Seed
• Shichimi Togarashi
• Star Anise
• Sumac
• Tamarind Paste
• Turmeric, Ground
• Wasabi Powder
• Za’atar

Wells

Wells Public Library, 1434 Post Road, Wells, ME 04090, (207) 646-8181

• Mobile Hotspots
• Museum passes (Brick Store Museum, Children’s Museum + Theatre of Maine, Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Portland Museum of Art, Southworth Planetarium, Seashore Trolley Museum, Ogunquit Museum of American Art)

Westbrook

Walker Memorial Library, 800 Main Street, Westbrook, ME 04092, (207) 854-0630

Free or discounted museum passes for the:

• Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine
• Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad
• Maine State Parks
• Maine Wildlife Park
• Portland Museum of Art
• Southworth Planetarium
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Yarmouth

Merrill Memorial Library, 215 Main Street, Yarmouth, ME 04096, (207) 846-4763

Free and reduced-cost passes to the following:

• Children’s Museum of Maine – 50% discount pass for up to 4 people. Please note: Reservations with the museum must be made prior to booking our pass.
• Farnsworth Art Museum – Free admission for 1 adult and any children under 16 years of age.
• Maine Botanical Garden – Not available year round. Free entry for 2 adults and unlimited children.
• Maine Maritime Museum – Free admission for a maximum of 8 individuals in a single family group. Children under 17 are always free.
• Maine State Park Vehicle Pass – Free admission for up to 17 people in one car. Not reservable. First come, first serve.
• Maine Wildlife Park in Gray – $3.50 per person, 3 years and older, pass for up to 7 people.
• Ogunquit Museum of American Art – Free entry for 4 people.
• Portland Museum of Art – Free pass for up to 2 adults and 6 children.

York

York Public Library, 15 Long Sands Road, York, ME 03909, (207) 363-2818

• Ukuleles
• Telescope
• Wolverine MovieMaker 8mm/Super 8 film to digital converter
• Pasta maker
• Hiking poles
• Gingerbread kit
• Birding equipment
• Puzzles

The York Public Library card benefits include museum and other passes for three states for free or reduced admission.

• Maine
• Children’s Museum + Theatre of Maine, Portland
• Maine Historical Society
• Maine State Parks Vehicle Pass
• Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit (Open May to October 31)
• Portland Museum of Art, Portland
• Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunk

• New Hampshire
• Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, Dover
• Seacoast Science Center, Rye
• Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth

• Massachusetts
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Final Thoughts on Maine Library Card Benefits

We went through the website and Facebook page for each and every library in York and Cumberland counties. If we found information that fit this article’s theme, we included it. However, it’s possible we missed something. So, if we did, please post a comment and let us know.

Also, you can have your children borrow books from the library this summer and then earn free book at Barnes and Noble through their summer reading program.

Finally, I haven’t found any libraries hosting Easter egg hunts but plenty of community parks.

Libraries are also great places for activities including things like crafting, game time, films, as well as story time for the little ones.

Here are some great activities and events at southern Maine public libraries in the next week or so.