From Our Director

Dear Jesup community,

Thank you all for enthusiastically embracing the Jesup’s expansion. The past three weeks have been a blur of welcoming you, settling in, and tackling ongoing and new projects related to the construction. It’s been so much fun!

The Jesup Memorial Library thanks Stephen Mooser, author of more than sixty children’s books and devoted friend, for lending us his collection for this show. An opening reception will be held in the Upper Commons on Thursday, July 9th from 4 - 5pm.

Read on!

Megan

Daniel Powell Poteet: Celebration of Life

Following a career in academic administration, Dan and his partner, Nancy, first tried to retire to Bar Harbor in 1998. They succeeded at a second attempt in 2010, and spent the following years dedicated to the community. Their impact is evident in the Jesup Memorial Library expansion, for which they were tireless advocates. 

In his retirement, Dan served on boards and committees with Maine College of Art, Bar Harbor Warrant Committee, Mt. Desert Island Historical Society, Acadia Senior College, Schoodic Institute, College of the Atlantic, the Abbe Museum, and Jesup Memorial Library. 

Dan will be remembered for his kindness, generosity, humility, quiet brilliance and wry wit that was occasionally sardonic but never mean. He was an admired and beloved colleague, a loyal friend, and a devoted husband and father. He relished becoming a grandfather, and he was an affectionate and proud follower of his family’s life developments, with sage advice, but only when solicited. 

Dan’s full obituary can be read at https://www.legacy.com/legacy/daniel-poteet-ii

Check jesuplibrary.org/events/poteet for updates and details on additional parking.  Please register online to receive the Zoom link.

Expanded hours for 2026 Booksale! 

Our 56th Annual Booksale will have even more time for you to find treasures!  It will be held on Saturday, August 15th from 10am to 7:30pm, on Sunday the 16th from 12pm to 4pm, and on Monday the 17th from 10am to 4pm. Most of the sale will be in the new Community Room and Commons, with some paperbacks on the front lawn (assuming weather cooperates). We hope to have the children’s section in the back courtyard. 

Now that the schedule is finalized, Ruth will be in touch to fill all the work shifts. We will need people to load the boxes from our storage site onto the truck and then offload at the library. We will need people on Thursday and Friday to unpack and get ready for the sale. We will need people to staff the sale on all three days, and then to help pack and move the remnants. 

This year we will again be able to have a lunch space for our volunteers, with food provided by volunteers on Saturday. The wonderful folks at the Bar Harbor Congregational Church have agreed to organize a shared bake sale. It will be a relief to have an air-conditioned space instead of a tent in the hot sun! 

Donations of books, games, CDs, DVDs, and puzzles in good condition are still most welcome. You can bring items to our sorting location on Tuesdays from 4 to 5:30pm, Saturdays from 1 to 3:00pm, or by appointment. (Please don’t just leave your donations in front of the building.  It is a shared space, and we don’t want to get in the way of the other tenants.) Donations will be accepted through August 5th.  Please contact Ruth Eveland for directions at reveland@jesuplibrary.org, or call or text 207-610-2355. 

It’s fifty days until the Booksale!  We will find new readers and owners for thousands of books, have fun and lots of wonderful conversations, and support our Jesup to ensure it can serve our community.