We encourage you to attend your town meetings and support the library’s funding request. Your vote has a direct impact on community services, including the library, and your participation makes a difference. Thank you!
Woolwich: April 29 at 6pm
Woolwich Central School
Bath Budget Public Hearing: TBD
Bath City Hall
West Bath: May 4 at 6pm
West Bath School
Arrowsic: June 11 at 6:30pm
Arrowsic Fire Hall
Georgetown: June 13 at 9am
Georgetown Central School
The newest issue of Pharos, A Patten Free Library Literary Magazine is now available! This online publication features the winning pieces from this year’s Annual Writing Contest. Access it through the link below and join us in once again congratulating this year’s winners.
The 11th Annual Writing Contest was open to writers of Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry in grades 6-12 and adults. Our judges had an especially difficult time choosing from all the excellent submissions, and would like to congratulate everyone who entered, as would the staff of the Patten Free Library!
It is no small thing to be brave enough to share your words with the world, and you are all winners in our book (and we know books!). Congratulations to everyone who entered!
Read PharosTickets for our Gift Card Raffle are now on sale! We’re raffling off gift cards from a variety of local businesses all throughout June. Support the Library and treat yourself to something fun.
Tickets are on sale through the end of May, and can be purchased at the front desk or at the link below.
Ticket pricing:
• $10 each
• 5 for $40
• 15 for $100
Don’t miss your chance to win—and support the Library at the same time.
Buy Tickets
The Seed Library is now open!
The majority of seeds for the 2026 Seed Library were donated by Fedco Seeds and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Additional seeds have been provided by patrons like you! We are starting the year with beans, beets, broccoli, corn, greens, herbs, peas, root vegetables, squash, and an assortment of flowers. Availability may vary.
Community donated seeds shared by the Seed Library were grown with love and care like our ancestors have done for thousands of years. Please know they may not meet state germination or labeling standards.
We try our best to ensure the quality of our seed using best practices in inventory care and labeling. Nonetheless, seeds are alive and people using the seed library have varying degrees of skill in saving seeds. You should know that you might experience low germination rates or receive seeds that were not properly labeled. This is a volunteer-run project, and we do the best we can with the time and resources we have.
How does the Seed Library work?
We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Patten Free Library’s 2026 Annual Writing Contest! We can’t wait to share the winning pieces with the public in our literary magazine, Pharos, which will be published in April.
The 11th Annual Writing Contest was open to writers of Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry in grades 6-12 and adults. Our judges had an especially difficult time choosing from all the excellent submissions, and would like to congratulate everyone who entered, as would the staff of the Patten Free Library!
It is no small thing to be brave enough to share your words with the world, and you are all winners in our book (and we know books!). Congratulations to everyone who entered!
On April 1, The Patten Free Library will offer free passes to the Bath Skate Park to library card holders. This program reflects a commitment to accessibility and community from both organizations.
We add this opportunity to our growing Museum and Parks Pass collection; an assortment of free or heavily discounted passes to museums and other local attractions, including the Coastal Maine Botanic Gardens, the Chocolate Church, and Maine State Parks.
“By offering experiences that our patrons might not otherwise be able access or afford, we are expanding the possibilities of what libraries can do for their communities,” says Patten Free Library Program and Outreach Manager Hannah Lackoff, “The Bath Skatepark is the perfect addition to this program, and we can’t wait for our patrons of all ages to see what the park has to offer!”
The Bath Skatepark is the largest indoor skatepark in Maine, offering over 6,000 square feet for skateboarding, inline skates, scooters, and BMX. The park is operated, in part, by local youth and riders and supports programs in the adjoining Midcoast Youth Center Teen Space.
“We really are thrilled to be part of the library’s collection of all the cool things that families can access at no cost,” says Midcoast Youth Center Director of Development Kirstie Truluck, “The research tells us that there are physical, social, cognitive and emotional benefits to skateboarding, and MYC is honored to build on the work of community youth who advocated for a skatepark nearly 20 years ago.”
Three Bath Skatepark passes are available per month, and can be used by up to four people ages five and up, including adults. Passes include equipment rentals. Access to passes is available to all Patten Free Library cardholders beginning April 1.
April 1-30 in Library Park
Now in its sixth year, the Patten Free Library’s Poetry Walk will take place in the month of April in Library Park. What began as a social distancing program in 2021 has become an annual tradition looked forward to by the community and staff alike.
Each year we install about twenty poems on yard sign style signs. We do our best to include poets of all ages, genders, and races, and select poems with a spring or hopeful theme. We invite the public to read the poems as they walk their dogs, play with their kids, and breathe in the spring air after a long winter.
The poetry walk will be on display throughout the month of April. Additional poets include local favorites, poetry from the History Room, and some bigger names viewers are certain to recognize.
Saturdays in April
10am-12:30pm
Registration required for each workshop. Click the link below to register.
Saturday, April 11
Infant massage strengthens the parent-child attachment relationship, promotes better sleep and aids in physical development, such as improved digestion and weight gain. Please bring a towel and olive or coconut oil for baby. Registration required.
Saturday, April 18
Making parents lives easier and babies happier. Learn how to provide infant care routines where the baby becomes an active participant in their care, cooperating, anticipating the steps, learning the routine, and gaining confidence! Registration required.
Deepen your connection with your baby through scripting routine activities and tuning into your baby’s cues, building communication and cooperation. Registration required.
A free public exhibition that reimagines a resilient and hopeful future for Bath and Harpswell in the face of climate change opened March 12 here at the Patten Free Library, along with Orr’s Island Library and Cundy’s Harbor Library in Harpswell, and Union and Co. in Bath.
The Envision Resilience: Designs for Living in a Changing Climate exhibition series features a collection of designs for the cities’ working waterfronts, public parks and neighborhoods, developed by graduate and undergraduate students studying architecture, landscape architecture, fine art and urban design.
The 2025 Envision Resilience Midcoast Maine Challenge convened teams from University of Maine Augusta, Maine College of Art and Design, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of Virginia with community stakeholders and local practitioners for an iterative process exploring innovative and adaptive solutions to challenges such as affordable housing, stormwater management, local industry and changing coastlines.
“The schematic student designs propose embracing rather than running from the stressors of a changing climate through innovating and reimagining infrastructure, housing and open spaces,” said Claire Martin, executive director of Envision Resilience. “Inspired by community leaders across Bath and Harpswell who generously gave their time and encouraged bold and visionary thinking, students have explored and proposed adaptive pathways that allow daily life to continue to thrive in the face of change.”
The collection of designs, curated by local artist Brian Smith and supported with illustrations by graphic artists Felipe Alvarez and Tamra Carhart, are equally visionary and tactile, innovative and implementable, exploratory and rooted in Maine’s hardy and spirited history and culture.
“This year’s exhibit tells the story of how design students engaged with the Midcoast’s built and natural landscapes and presents their contributions to ongoing conversations about resilience at the local and regional scale through craft and curiosity,” said Wendell T. Joseph, design studio manager of Envision Resilience. “Design shapes our material reality and our collective imagination. As our climate continues to change, expansive imagination continues to become critical and necessary. Thanks to our partnership with local libraries and community spaces, this body of work from design and art students is made available and accessible to the public—an invitation to imagine with us. We hope our audience leaves this exhibit with a deeper understanding of how design thinking and processes can help us better live with a changing climate.”
The Envision Resilience: Designs for Living in a Changing Climate will run at the Patten Free Public Library in Bath, ME and at Orr’s Island Library and Cundy’s Harbor Library in Harpswell, ME through August 2026 and at Union + Co. in Bath, ME through April. Admission is free and the exhibition is open during library hours. Join the Bath Climate Commission, Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, Patten Free Library, and representatives from Envision Resilience for Bath Climate Conversations in person and virtually on Wednesday, March 11 at 5:30pm.
Since its inception, Envision Resilience has engaged more than 500 students from 20 universities, and partnered with hundreds of community leaders across Northeast communities throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.
Envision Resilience
Envision Resilience works to advance innovative city planning and design in the face of climate change through student and community partnerships. By connecting current and future professionals working across disciplines, the organization creates opportunities for communities to reimagine climate challenges and inspire resilient solutions. Envision Resilience, founded by Wendy Schmidt, is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.
One Saturday per month from 10am-12:30pm
Why replace when you can repair? Our expert volunteers will help repair your electronics, lamps, furniture, jewelry and small appliances; mend clothing, and sharpen tools.
If we are unable to repair your item we will make suggestions on where you can find the parts and learn how to do the repair or have it professionally repaired. This is a first come, first served program and depending on the turnout we can’t guarantee we will be able to help everyone or repair every item. Please bring your items with you to the library.
Presented in partnership with Curtis Memorial Library, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and Merrymeeting Community and Adult Education. Repair Café will rotate between locations.
January 10: Patten Free Library
February 14: Habitat for Humanity ReStore
March 7: Merrymeeting Community and Adult Education
April 4: Patten Free Library
May 2: Habitat for Humanity ReStore
June 13: Curtis Memorial Library
July 11: Merrymeeting Community and Adult Education
All Repair Cafés take place on Saturday mornings from 10am-12:30pm
Learn More
