The role of public libraries and the librarians who run them is changing. Technology has seen to that.

What libraries are offering today is basically the same as 20 years ago – information. But the way the libraries provide the information has changed. Computers are replacing stacks of books as the information-gathering tool of choice. Along with that, libraries are offering new services in an effort to become more than just places to get information but community meeting places as well.

When Westbrook resident Rachel Johns was getting her teacher’s certification online, she used the Walker Memorial Library as her classroom. She took her state tests on one of the library’s computers with a library technician administering the test as a proctor.

The transformation of the public library is evident here in Westbrook as the Walker Memorial Library begins what Director Karen Valley hopes is a jump into the 21st century. Valley took over the library from long-time director Carolyn Watkins in January 2006, and since then she’s begun a transformation to bring the library up to the cutting edge in Maine.

The first step Valley hopes to take is to get the Walker Memorial Library onto a state library network and update its software system, as well as providing wireless Internet. After that, Valley hopes to create a new teen area to complement its youth center, complete with computers with Internet access and an area for teens to hang out after school and during summer. Valley is even hoping to give the library a cafa, just like many bookstores have these days.

What Valley is proposing mirrors current trends in public libraries across the country. Because computers have changed the way everyday people access information, watch movies and even read, libraries are having to evolve to maintain a place in society.

Nikki Maounis, president of the Maine Library Association, said libraries are becoming community centers where people can come to meet and hang out, in a way they never were before. They are offering all the books they already have, plus computer space, wireless Internet and new materials including movies on DVD and books on CDs. Some are even creating cafas.

Valley’s vision for the library apparently will come into focus slowly. In the proposed 2007-2008 budget just released by the city, the library is slated to get a new full-time head of circulation/information technology systems coordinator and a new full-time reference librarian, an upgrade from the current part-time position. The circulation position is budgeted at a salary of just under $40,000 and the reference librarian has a budgeted salary of just over $37,000.

“Funding those position,” said Valley, “will move us forward technologically.”

In the 1970s, when Maounis first began working at libraries, she said, people came for a specific reason, she said – to find a particular book or a specific piece of information. Today, they may go to the library instead of the mall just for something to do.

Angel Stevens of Westbrook said that’s exactly what she uses the Walker Memorial Library for. She said she brings her young son to the library most evenings.

“To hang out, get out of the house,” she said. “It breaks up the day.”

Stevens said, given the choice, she’d rather go to a public library than a bookstore to browse and spend time because, unlike bookstores, she finds libraries more personable, with staff more willing to help find books or DVDs.

Maounis said that library usage across the country is up from decades past.

Lynn Bivens, assistant director at Walker, said the library keeps statistics from year to year. She said it has seen a hike in circulation in recent years. From 2005 to 2006, the circulation increased from about 50,500 to 53,400.

The result is that the services offered by libraries are changing and the physical design of the libraries is changing, as well, as evidenced by Valley’s efforts to create at some point a teen space with couches and computers at the Walker Memorial Library.

Technology hasn’t diminished the library’s print items, however, which currently number over 53,000 items and continue to grow, along with the over 3,000 videos and DVDs.

“Print items are still the highest circulating items,” said Bivens. “So, no, we haven’t stopped purchasing print materials. I think we still have an obligation to maintain current print collections in the library.”

Along with the libraries themselves, the people who work in the libraries are changing, as well. As technology brings instant information to anyone with Internet access, it takes knowledge and training to be able to sift through that information to get at the accurate, valid information. Therefore, the role of the librarian – now commonly referred to as the library technician – is more complicated, requiring constant training to keep up on advances in the field. Today, most of the librarians’ research is done on the Internet, helping patrons sift through the myriad useless information.

“The librarian acts as a liaison, telling them how to navigate the database,” said Lisa Wojcik, youth services librarian at Walker Memorial Library.

According to Johns, a mother of three kids under 10, the ability to access a research specialist like Wojcik is one of the most important things the library provides her.

However, Johns also uses the library as a resource for her kids, particularly the community programs the library has always provided, such as pony rides and visits by police and fire officials. She also uses it simply to find books.

“I use libraries for the good, old-fashioned reason,” said Johns. “They have books that I want but don’t know if I want to buy.”

All these changes, however, have a cost. In recent years, Valley said, budget constraints have prevented the library from making changes that many other libraries in surrounding towns were making.

Given the new funding, it appears the Westbrook facility will join the state’s online library system. With federal funding, joining the system would cost the Walker Memorial Library about $3,000 per year, with an approximately additional $2,000 to operate a delivery system for interlibrary loan. While the proposed budget provides for the library to join the state system, the money to pay for it will not come from tax dollars. Instead, the city plans to use income from the Fluett Trust, a fund set up specifically for the benefit of the library, to pay for the link to the state system.

The state system automates all items in the member libraries into one card-catalog system. It also provides access to the state’s infonet, Maine’s virtual database where users can find sources of information such as online encyclopedias, newspapers, books, academic journals and magazines.

The system is also a collaboration of libraries across the state in which interlibrary loan is done on the computer. Instead of traveling to another town or visiting the local library and requesting a book in person, users can order books from any member library in the state via computer. The book is then delivered to the local library in as few as two days, and the user is notified electronically that the book is in. The user can also renew the book online.

Marie Morey of the Gray Public Library, a member of the state’s online system, said the online user option has increased the number of people using the library and increased the number of books and movies those users are checking out.

“It’s the best thing we ever did,” said Morey. “All in all, it’s been very well received.”

Valley is looking for that same reaction in Westbrook.