Library director appointed to state board

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — In December Gov. Paul LePage appointed Thompson Free Library Director Helen Fogler to the Maine Library Commission, filling a vacated position representing the Northern Maine Library District.
    “I have been to a couple of meetings, we meet in Augusta every other month,” said Fogler, who has been at the Thompson Free Library since 1997. The Maine Library Commission is made up of 17 members and they establish the policies and operations of the state library, give advice and make recommendations on the expenditure of state and federal funds and establish guidelines and policies for statewide library programs.

    “Mostly what we are talking about now is Maine InfoNet,” Fogler said about the statewide database. She said the state’s larger libraries are part of Maine InfoNet, which can enable members to share resources such as downloads of eBooks and audio books, and the Maine Library Commission is working to expand Maine InfoNet to smaller libraries.
    “We subscribe to Download Library here,” she said, but explained the Thompson Free Library is not a part of all the Maine InfoNet programs.
    “They act on what’s going on at the state library and how to serve more people throughout the state,” Fogler said about another of Maine Library Commission’s duties. She said the members are a good group and all work hard for Maine’s libraries.
    Fogler explained the Maine Library Commission represents different perspectives. She is on the commission for libraries in northern Maine while another serves for central Maine and a third for the state’s southern communities. Other seats are for collegiate libraries, public libraries, school libraries, disadvantaged and handicapped as well as at-large members.
    Maine Library Commission members are appointed to five-year terms, and Fogler will be serving through August of 2016.