“We started coming to Maine for our vacations every year from 1972,” says longtime Library volunteer Gloria Taliana. “We worked our way up from York Beach to Jonesport, never once staying in Boothbay Harbor. Then in 2000s my husband and I rented a condo at Signal Point. I had just retired from teaching senior education at the university I graduated from and I remembered reading if you are going to move where you vacation, move there in the off-season to try it out. We came from Michigan, so we were used to the cold.

“Of course, right away, I went to the Library. I didn’t start volunteering right away, but I did get to know everybody. Then we came back in 2001 when we bought our place. My husband was an artist who belonged to a very prestigious art club back in Detroit and he always loved painting when we came here. One of the requirements when we finally moved was that he had his own studio.

“At first, it was lonely here leaving all my family and friends behind until I began volunteering at the Library and got active at my church. My first job was barcoding books with Nancy Hanson three days a week. Since then, I have done a little of everything. Shirley Wharburton and I would do Wednesday night together and make all the calls for the overdue books. That is where I first got my nickname, ‘The Velvet Hammer.’ I’ll never forget making a call to one particular lady who said she couldn’t bring a book back because it was holding up the sofa! We laughed all the time. Apparently, Back in the ’60s, the librarians went to people’s houses to get the books. I can’t imagine that now.

“I was injured visiting my daughter in Saratoga Springs and have been recuperating for the past three months. This is the longest I have spent away from the Library in more than 20 years since I first started back in the early 2000s. I’m really looking forward to returning  as so many of my friends are here.

“I think this Library means different things to different people,” Gloria says in closing. “To young parents it is an invaluable source of activities and story times; for seniors it is not only a great source for information, it is also their social circle where they meet-up with friends. I have never heard anyone ever ‘shhh’ anyone here; it's more of a community space and I love that.”

Welcome back Gloria!

Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, 4 Oak Street, Boothbay Harbor. (207) 633-3112. For more information visit bbhlibrary.org