Bangor Public Library

The Bangor Public Library was founded in 1921 by the Bangor Women’s Club. After many years of fundraising the library was finally opened to serve Bangor and the surrounding economic community. The library was a cultural focus of the community.

The library was located on North First Street – next to the current police station – in a building that has since been torn down. The library moved two more times by 1939. In 1940 the library moved to our current location at the corner of Broadway, South Main and Erdman Avenue. This building was built in 1890 as the home of the Merchants National Bank of Bangor. The cost of the original building was $6,400. In 1939 Robert Steinmetz gave the building to the Borough of Bangor to be used as a public library and as the home of the Bangor Women’s Club. Due to lack of space the Women’s Club no longer meets in the building.

The Bangor Public Library serves a population of 18,745 residents of the Bangor Area School District. This statistic is based on the 2000 census and has undoubtedly increased since then.

Funding is received from Bangor Borough, Portland Borough, East Bangor, Roseto, Upper Mount Bethel Township and Washington Township. The library also receives support from the Bangor Area School District and from the Bangor Women’s Club.

State aid for the past year was $25,980. For the Bangor Public Library to continue to receive state aid the library must raise and spend a minimum of $5 per person. This money must be raised from local sources, including Friends of the Library fundraisers, book sales, etc. and our annual Fundraising Campaign. All financial donations are greatly appreciated and necessary to continue to provide library service to our community.

The benefits of state aid can be seen in the Access Pennsylvania program and interlibrary loan. Access Pennsylvania allows our residents with library cards to go to many other public libraries across the state and check out materials directly from that library. Interlibrary loan allows our residents to request a book and that book will be sent here for our patron’s use. With both programs the material can be returned to the Bangor Public Library. State aid also provides access to the POWER Library. POWER Library is a multitude of databases – provided free of charge to our patrons. All you need is a library card and access to the Internet. POWER Library can be accessed from the library or it can be accessed from your home internet. These three programs are the biggest benefits of state aid for our patrons.