As you may have heard, the Bangor Public Library purchased the Moulton
Library building on the former campus of the Bangor Theological Center to
use as a Last Copy Center for all types of libraries in Maine.

You may ask, what is a Last Copy Center?  It is a shared offsite storage
facility designed to free valuable space in libraries across the state so
libraries can have newer or more frequently-accessed materials on their
shelves.  The idea would be that instead of every public library in the
state having a copy of all of Agatha Christies novels, let's say, or John
MacDonald's Travis McGee novels, or even the earlier works of Danielle
Steel, works that seem to have gone out of favor, but that people may still
want to read, there would be one copy (the LAST COPY) available at the
Center for anyone in the state to borrow.  Libraries across the state could
then weed these titles from their collections.

     Bangor Public obviously thinks this is something needed in the state,
but we would like to know how other Libraries feel about it.  Is this
something you would be interested in seeing?  If so, would your library be
interested in participating?  What kind of material would be useful for your
library for the Last Copy Center to collect?  

     This message is, I hope, a start of a discussion on this topic.  Your
opinions are invited and welcomed.

Thanks,

Barbara McDade