HARPSWELL

If you want something done, ask a busy woman.

That’s how Donna Frisoli, station manager of Harpswell Community TV, found time last year to start Ash Point Library in the former West Harpswell School.

“It was a big concern for a lot of people because, really, it’s 24/7 at the station, but there was the money and there was a room and we needed a library,” Frisoli said at the studio Wednesday night.

Typically, Frisoli spends the evening at the library, but with the annual Town Meeting set for Saturday, coverage of the selectmen’s meeting came first.

What Frisoli means by money is that, by having one third of the school occupied or in use, the town saves $10,000 in insurance costs, in Frisoli’s estimation. The school has been closed since June 2011.

While Ash Point Library only occupies one room, Harpswell Recreation Department makes up the difference in its use of the gym.

Governed by a board and four volunteers — including Frisoli — Ash Point Library was a need nobody knew they wanted until they got it.

“Everybody wins here,” Frisoli said. “Things just sort of fell into place.”

Access point

A community without a library is like a blueprint without a dream.

“I have never lived in a place without a library,” said Frisoli, whose home is just around the corner from the old school.

Missing the convenience of a local library closer than a 20-minute drive is part of what inspired Frisoli. But it was other things, as well.

“I was concerned because when they talked about closing the school, I thought about all the kids who qualify for free and reduced (price) lunch who might not have Internet or computers at home. How could our children on the Neck compete if they couldn’t afford Internet?” Frisoli said.

The closest library on that side of Harpswell is Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick. On the other side of Harpswell, people without Internet service can go to Orr’s or Cundy’s Harbor libraries.

Now, residents of Harpswell Neck who sign up for an Ash Point Library card can visit with their laptops Monday through Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Wednesday from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Or they can just pull in the parking lot, type in a code and access the Internet any time they want.

“It’s always available. That was one of the first things we set up.” Frisoli said.

What the library needs now is a couple of computers. A request for $1,500, to purchase two desktop packages is on Saturday’s town meeting warrant.

“We don’t want laptops that could sprout legs and walk off,” Frisoli said.

One computer would be for librarian use to keep track of circulation and the 132 patrons who have signed up for a card so far.

The other would be for patrons to use.

“We’ve had people come in who not only don’t have Internet at home, but also don’t have a computer,” Frisoli said.

A reading room

If the convenience of Internet access on the Neck isn’t enough to keep a library going, there’s always the books.

West Harpswell School and Jordan Acres School in Brunswick both donated their collections after closing.

“We got 40 boxes from the town and 25 from Jordan Acres. But these are old books and mostly for children. We have no new books to speak of. If you want new books, you go to Curtis,” Frisoli said.

An appropriation of $123,904 that will fund 10 percent of Curtis Memorial Library’s annual budget will be voted on Saturday.

Concerns that Ash Point might draw patrons away from Curtis have been unfounded.

“We’re a reading room with WiFi at the end of the peninsula. We absolutely cannot compete with the types of services Curtis offers,” Frisoli said. “We don’t want to.”

Ash Point also doesn’t offer the sorts of services, particularly interlibrary loans, that Harpswell’s other two small libraries offer. Both of those libraries maintain their own standalone buildings and indexed collections, and receive $13,000 annually from the town.

But Frisoli believes there’s a place for Ash Point, run as it is by people who want to donate their time to sorting and shelving donated books in a donated room in an empty school.

Mike Doyle, a retired railroad worker from Pennsylvania who now makes Harpswell his part-time home, is one of those volunteers.

“This is something to do and it needed to be done,” Doyle said Monday, a quiet day at Ash Point.

When not helping patrons or sorting through boxes of hand-me-down books, he works on his stamp collection. “I get a chance to catch up on my hobby and the library gets a librarian,” he said.

“Everybody wins,” Frisoli repeated.

“We sure put a lot of work into it up till now, and we couldn’t have done it without such generous support from the community. I’m hoping we can remain where we are till they figure out what to do with building.” she said.

rshelly@timesrecord.com