Library Director's Welcome

Salutations,

I would be remiss to pass up the chance to make this literary introduction, particularly given its venerated and proximate source, E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web.

I am thrilled to be taking the helm at the Stonington Public Library (SPL) and carrying on the great work that has been established and has come to be expected. I thank Chris Ross and the Trustees of the Library for providing such a dynamic environment and operation.

My love for Deer Isle/Stonington and the Blue Hill Peninsula began in 2017, when my wife Jenna Lookner and I started visiting the area with some regularity. Whenever the opportunity to get away for the weekend presented itself, our car inevitably pointed us in this direction. The wealth of creative and artistic individuals and opportunities seemed boundless and the people were always welcoming and engaging. One encounter with an innkeeper in Stonington became ingrained in my perception of the community: while we were checking in, she took a phone call that turned out to be from a fellow innkeeper who was looking for cooking ingredients. She said that they (the innkeepers) always worked together and supported one another when they could. She turned a cliche into a way of life that is especially poignant in this area: a favorable tide can, indeed, lift all boats.

We made the move to Little Deer Isle as permanent residents in March of 2022, in the middle of a terrible snowstorm. As luck would have it, the rented 26 foot long U-Haul slid off our steep, winding driveway, leaving me hopelessly mired. After a few phone calls and inquiries by a few casual passersby, the neighborhood had been called to action. Some we knew only through social media at the time, one was a neighbor driving by on the way to pick up an elderly neighbor’s mail. The latter lives a few driveways down from us and he said, “If you are still here when I come back by, I’ll get my tractor and help you out.” True to his word, and much to my chagrin, when he returned I was still entrenched. He not only pulled me out (not once, but twice!), but told us where he lives and where he keeps the keys to his tractor in case we needed it in the future. When I tried to give him a thank you gift, he refused, telling me, “When you see someone in trouble, stop and help them out.” Such was our introduction to living on the island.

My work in libraries began in college, where I spent my four years working at the University of Maine Farmington’s Mantor Library while earning my teaching degree. Following college, my first professional experience was as the school librarian at Strong Elementary School, just north of Farmington. Fostering a love of not only reading, but of books, with a youth population was tremendously rewarding. This is an area that SPL has spent significant efforts to fortify and which excites me greatly.

My career has consisted almost entirely of museum and nonprofit endeavors, perhaps most notably my 18 years as Education Director and Curator at the Owls Head Transportation Museum (OHTM). There, I oversaw one of the most spectacular (and tightly focused) technical libraries and archives I have had the pleasure of experiencing. Perhaps more importantly, my work with OHTM allowed me to conceptualize and execute a panoply of programs and activities for participants of all ages. From hands-on activities, to interactive exhibitions and installations, to lecture series, programming was a mainstay of my endeavors. These experiences were also some of the most fulfilling in my job and I look forward to carrying on SPL’s tradition of diverse, quality programming.

I am eager to discover the interests of SPL patrons in order to offer the most appropriate and engaging programming and reading choices possible as well as immersing myself with the community and the myriad, wonderful organizations that have and are yet to collaborate with SPL to further enrich our respective and shared communities.

As Jenna and I approach our four year anniversary of living on Little Deer Isle, we have settled in with our flocks of heritage and rare breed chickens, geese, and ducks, dogs, and an ever growing appreciation for this area. I am eager to give back to the community in new ways with SPL and will end with another sentiment from the illustrious Mr. White, “ I would really rather feel bad in Maine than feel good anywhere else.”

I look forward to meeting and working with you and want you to know that my door will always be open. I can’t wait to meet each of you.

Best,

Ethan Yankura