Founded:
The current building -- the former Pavilion Congregational Church -- was dedicated as the McArthur Public Library in October 1902.
An earlier library, which was a city department, burned along with the City Building in 1894.
Elizabeth Stevens, a retired employee of the Laconia mills, gave seed money and Robert McArthur, an agent of the Pepperell mills, gave time and energy for the new location at 270 Main Street.
Mission:The McArthur Public Library's mission is to connect the Biddeford community with materials, programs, services, and informational and cultural resources needed to lead fuller, better, and richer lives.
Collections:
Thanks to the City, the McArthur family, and other generous supporters, McArthur Library now offers community members access to some 65,000 book volumes, 170 magazine subscriptions, 1500 music cassettes or CD’s, 2,000 VHS tapes or DVD’s, and 1500 audiobooks on either cassette or CD. We also have 15 public access computers with the Internet, learning games, and Microsoft Office software—and building-wide free wireless Internet access. A treasure unique to McArthur Library is our glorious collection of antique photographs of the city and surrounding areas.
Library Hours:
Monday through Thursday: 9:30 A.M. to 8 P.M.
Friday: 9:30 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Saturday: 9:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M.
Activities:
We offer year-round weekly story programs for infants through preschoolers at no charge, and in the summer we add our now-legendary Summer Reading Club for school-age kids and teens to our services. Our recently acquired laptop lab has been used for hands-on classes for both adults and kids in computer basics, Internet searching, and access to electronic resources provided by both McArthur Library and the state of Maine.