A Newsletter for Friends of the Library
Vol. 40, No. 2

As we welcome summer, the staff of the Margaret Chase Smith Library is working on many exciting events! National History Day in Maine is headed to the national contest, we continue to update the facility with new storage materials, our Maine Town Meeting was a success, and our newest exhibit, “Painting an Inclusive History: Maine Women in Politics” is opening!

In this issue, you will learn about our recent library activities, educational opportunities, and various researchers and visitors. Each staff member has written what they have been doing over the last few months. Be sure to scroll all the way down and check out our up coming events section to see what’s on the horizon.

Directions

by David Richards

“Don’t panic!” That was the message Michael Socolow wanted audience members to take away from his presentation at the Library’s recent Maine Town Meeting, the title of which was “Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Democracy.” A media historian in the Department of Communications and Journalism at the University of Maine, Prof. Socolow provided an overview of how new communication technologies from the telegraph to the movies to radio to television to the internet to social media have always disrupted society and politics.

Our guide to artificial intelligence was Jon Ippolito, professor of New Media and director of the Digital Curation Program at UMaine. His caution was not to get carried away by the hype surrounding AI. Misinformation and disinformation have long been part of politics. AI didn’t create the problem. Algorithms just makes it easier to spread virally.

The common thread I took away from both talks is that a functioning republican democracy still requires the same virtues in 2024 as it did in 1789, when the US Constitution was ratified – an informed and vigilant citizenry that acquires information broadly and assesses it independently and critically. If you would like to watch the two Maine Town Meeting lectures, and form your own opinions, you can access them on our YouTube channel (click here).

There was a third impromptu speaker at the Maine Town Meeting, Nhi Nguyen, the second-place winner in the 2024 Margaret Chase Smith Essay Contest. A senior at Oak Hill High School in Wales, Maine, Nhi attended the event to receive her prize. In her remarks, she outlined the proposals she had made in her essay about how young people should be protected from potential harm on the internet. She called for guidelines on internet data mining, individual privacy protections, and most of all, education for students in digital literacy.

Afterwards, many people remarked to me about how impressed they were by Nhi. Her essay was well written, her extemporaneous presentation was polished, and her personality was effervescent. She is destined to go far in life. Her plan is to attend Brown University pre-med. What Nhi most left an audience skewing gray with was hope – hope that the younger generations behind us are up for the challenges that lie ahead.

Hope was also the theme of the Library’s most recent book discussion of It Can’t Happen Here held a few days before the Maine Town Meeting. The current series on Future Visions has been decidedly dystopian. Readers were depressed by Sinclair Lewis’s account of how a fascist regime could come to power in the United States during the 1930s. Most couldn’t get far into Fort Beulah, Vermont’s descent into totalitarianism and abandoned the book. Some of the politics in the story hit too close to today. When I asked members of the group what their future visions were, no one wore rose-colored glasses, but everyone wanted to see at least a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

I will conclude with the hope that you have reasons to be hopeful, despite the rise of artificial intelligence and the demise of civil politics. Remember, ultimately, hope has to come from within, not without.

Communication Corner

By John Taylor

National History Day in Maine 2024

As I write this I am preparing to head to the NHD National Contest at the University of Maryland in a week’s time. It’s been a fun and interesting contest season in Maine. Thanks to the late snowstorm in March, we had to pivot our plans and convert our Southern Regional Contest to a virtual experience. We were saddened to miss out on hosting the event with our new partners at the University of Southern Maine, but we all agree it was the right call. We cannot wait to have an in-person event there next year! The Northern Regional at John Bapst Memorial High School was a success, and our State Contest held in April at the University of Maine was our smoothest operation yet! Judges were impressed with the amount of research and the quality of work done by our middle and high school students. Thirty-four students will be heading to College Park, Maryland to compete against all affiliates starting June 9-13. During that time they will present their work to judges, trade buttons with other likeminded students, meet Senators King and Collins, attend a talk with filmmaker Ken Burns, display their projects at various sites on campus and in Washington DC, and hopefully return home with some national medals! As the State Coordinator, it is my job to advocate for our students, help run a smooth contest, and create itineraries and events for our team. It’s a long and exhaustive week, but it’s always one of my favorite parts of my job. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to see all the action happening at the National Contest!

2024 Margaret Chase Smith Library Essay Contest

The winners have been chosen for this year’s essay contest. You might remember, we asked Maine high school seniors the following question: Today teenagers use technology, more specifically the internet and social media, for a multitude of reasons. The benefits include creating relationships with people and developing personal identities through social networking and messaging, playing online games, and virtual learning. On the contrary, potential risks for adolescents consist of cyberbullying, trolling, isolation, and access to inappropriate material or relationships. The Library invited students to recommend what guidelines we as a society should establish for teenagers concerning their use of technology to ensure their personal safety and privacy.

What we received were a lot of thought provoking essays from across the state from Kennebunk to Fort Kent that questioned what was acceptable, what were the downsides of our tech savvy culture, and what we should deem an appropriate use to protect everyone in a virtual world. We as a staff grappled with many of these ideas ourselves. It was a tough decision to rank our top three, but we all agreed that there were a few that really stood out of the large stack of essays sitting on our desks.

The list of winners are as follows:

First Place ($1,000): Summer LaRose, John Bapst Memorial High School
Second Place ($500): Nhi Nguyen, Oak Hill High School
Third Place ($250): Anna Weber, Medomak Valley High School
Honorable Mention ($50):
Aubrey Hanscom, John Bapst Memorial High School
Makayla Morello, Westbrook High School
Ainsley Overlock, John Bapst Memorial High School
Alina Schueman, Greely High School
Natalie Waloven, Yarmouth High School

learning Lounge

by Kim Nelson

As the others have mentioned, we have been in a flurry of activities this spring and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. This is fantastic in many ways but does cause some projects to become more backburner such as my working with Past Perfect-our collection management system. However, it is nice to interact with many students, both elementary and high school, as they learn about Senator Smith and our incredible facility. I put together a high school museum research hunt, similar to the one I updated for elementary students, with a graphic novel/comic strip format. This one focused on political cartoons that are on display in the museum, certain aspects of the Senator’s career, and supported a program Nicole was doing. For students traversing the museum to answer questions, locating items, and pondering the meaning of a cartoon takes them through the journey of Senator Smith’s life and career, and it allows us to sneakily reinforce learning skills.

I recently worked with a researcher who was looking for a connection between Senator Smith, Guatemala, and her suggestion of a coffee ban from that country. There was a great political cartoon, (that sadly we do not have the rights to but the researcher was able to obtain permission to use) along with a few additional items I located which lead, as it often does with research, to more questions. I found four more political cartoons and a variety of information to assist the researcher’s expanded area of interest. The fun thing for me assisting researchers is how it takes me along the expedition with the researcher as I learn a new little something about Senator Smith’s career.

Finally, Nicole and I traveled to attend the Maine Library Association annual conference in May. John joined us later in the day. As an introvert, going to these things are always anxiety inducing but the rewards make it worth it. What happens at a library conference you might wonder: author talks and book signings, great speakers, meetings, awards, geeking out on things librarians geek out about such as light up swords being given away (I may perhaps now own one), lots of discussions about books, program ideas, legal issues libraries face, and ways to support patrons and one another. Librarians love to help even if it is just to point out that the coffee has been removed for the day (there is then great commiseration). You put a large group of introverts together at a conference and it can become a quiet event - thank goodness for those extrovert librarians! I attended some fantastic sessions that helped me flesh out program ideas that have been bouncing around inside my head for years. The conference theme this year was Libraries: Beacons of Democracy, therefore, there were many interesting sessions along these lines. I was extremely excited for two programs pertaining to archives while one exceeded my expectations and one didn’t fill me with any new creative sparks, both highlighted the variety of ways in which archives can be utilized in education. Nicole and John’s brilliant session was well attended by enthusiastic librarians even if it was at the end of the day and in the warmest room at the conference. There was plenty of interest in what they shared and I believe everyone left feeling a bit more empowered to plan for disasters at their own facilities. I contributed by taking the world’s most unflattering photos of Nicole and John. I was also able to chat with some of my former professors, classmates, librarian friends, and even made a few new contacts for future programs. I come away feeling refreshed and gratified that librarianship is my life both personally and professionally. Some library themed stickers, pens, bookmarks, and a light up sword doesn’t hurt either.

Research Roundup

by Nicole Potter

Painting an Inclusive History: Maine Women in Politics

The Margaret Chase Smith (MCS) Library opened an exhibition of Maine artist Jerri Whitman’s work on May 20th, 2024. Based in Dresden, Maine, Whitman is a longtime artist who works in oil, pastel, acrylic, colored pencil and graphite. Presently, Whitman is working to create a portrait of every woman from Maine who has been elected to the Maine Legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, or the U.S. Senate. The first twenty-six of these portraits are featured in “Painting an Inclusive History: Maine Women in Politics” and this exhibition will be on display at the MCS Library until Wednesday, November 27th, 2024.

On Thursday, June 20th, from 4pm to 7pm, there will be a public opening reception for “Painting an Inclusive History” at the MCS Library in Skowhegan, Maine. This event will be free and open to all, there will be light refreshments served, and brief welcoming remarks will be given at 5pm. RSVPs for this event are encouraged but not required. You can RSVP using this LINK or by calling the Margaret Chase Smith Library (207) 474-7133.

Whitman started painting the portraits included in “Painting an Inclusive History” after a trip to the Maine State House with her granddaughter in 2022. As they walked the halls, the two of them could not help but notice that the only portrait of a female elected official was that of Senator Margaret Chase Smith, which hangs in the Hall of Flags. All other portraits feature male politicians. While this initial visit was spurred by Whitman’s original desire to paint a portrait of Governor Janet Mills, Whitman realized she had to widen her scope.

All twenty-six portraits are of women whose commitment to the state of Maine is worthy of recognition – and a portrait. Many of the portraits are those of “firsts,” including Dora Pinkham, the first woman elected to the Maine Legislature; Governor Janet Mills, the first woman to serve as Maine’s Attorney General and Governor; Rachel Talbot Ross, Maine's first African-American House Speaker, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Maine’s first female Secretary of State, and Senator Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress and the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for president at a major political party convention. Senator Smith is the subject of two portraits included in this exhibition - one of which will stay permanently at the MCS Library.

The staff of the MCS Library encourages everyone to either attend the public opening reception on Thursday, June 20th, from 4pm to 7pm, or visit the MCS Library before the exhibition ends in November 2024. To learn more about the exhibition please visit the MCS Library’s website or click here to RSVP for the public opening.

Presentation at the Maine Library Association Conference

John Taylor and I put in a proposal earlier this year for the Maine Library Association Annual Conference which was accepted. Our presentation, entitled If There's Something Weird (and it don't look good) Who You Gonna Call?: Disaster Planning and Preparedness for Libraries,” took place at the end of the first day of the conference.

We opened with how the Margaret Chase Smith (MCS) Library wrote our original disaster plan and how the plan has been updated and regularly reviewed since. There were slides about the supplies that the MSC Library has purchased to outfit our disaster kits and carts and what supplies have been most utilized since purchasing. We discussed the MCS Library’s regular staff training on disaster preparedness and how we structure them. To close we shared a curated list of pre-existing resources to help guide and support other institutions disaster planning and preparedness.

The presentation was well attended and there was an excellent Q&A that followed. John and I certainly felt that our presentation was particularly timely as Maine has been experiencing more major or unusual weather events in recent years. All Maine libraries should be at a level of preparedness so when something weird happens they know who they're gonna call (and what they're gonna do).

While I had attended MLA in the past this was my first time presenting at this conference. I greatly enjoyed the experience of presenting with John and attending additional sessions at MLA alongside my other colleague Kim Nelson.

Upcoming events

Featured

Book Talk: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Dec 17

Dec 17, 2024

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM18:00 – 19:306:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Book Talk: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Dec 17, 2024

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM18:00 – 19:306:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Dec 17, 2024

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM18:00 – 19:306:00 PM – 7:30 PM