Bringing students into close contact with the primary source materials held by the Margaret Chase Smith Library can help them think more deeply about history and prompt deeper curiosity. Library staff have developed a variety of learning opportunities that prepare students with contextual information, enable them to observe and respond to archival materials, and promote the importance of them developing their own lines of inquiry and speculation.

This commentary addresses the issue of costs in the case of a state-based single-payer model for the state of Maine. The model proposed covers the commercially, self-, and un-insured populations by a publicly funded, privately and publicly provided state plan supplemented with vision, hearing, and dental benefits. The model continues current funding of Medicare, Veterans Affairs, and Indian Health Service programs, incorporates the Medicaid (MaineCare) program into the state plan, and eliminates all but token cost sharing. Additionally the proposed model achieves provider and payer savings, reimburses providers at rates above Medicare’s because of provider savings, reimbursement negotiation, and hospital global budgets, and continues coverage of long-term care through MaineCare and private arrangements.

The authors of this commentary describe a coming together of an EPSCoR planning team with community leaders across the northeastern US forest sector. The community leaders came in support of this high-stake NSF proposal and in support of each other. As a result, their transdisciplinary deliberations on data and artificial intelligence (AI), economics, inclusion, and learning not only generated inputs to the recently announced $7 million NSF EPSCoR E-RISE award (OIA-2416915), but also gave them new language to describe their collaboration capacity.

More than 50 years of research show that students with access to well-resourced school libraries with certified librarians consistently perform better academically and score higher on standardized assessments. While underserved students see even bigger gains from robust library services, they are less likely to have access to these resources. Yet since 2000, there has been a nearly 20 percent drop in school librarian positions, which translates to 10,000 fewer fulltime school librarians across the country (Lance 2018). This article was previously published by the Center for American Progress.

Public and school libraries provide many things to their communities. They hold programs and events, provide services and meeting spaces, and in the case of public libraries, often serve as community centers. Perhaps most importantly, libraries level the playing field by providing free and unencumbered access to resources and information, regardless of one’s age, financial status, ability, level of education, or other characteristics. Within the last few years, however, the country has seen an enormous rise in attempts to hinder that access. Maine is by no means a battleground state in the war on books, but the state has not escaped attempts to censor. This article recaps recent challenges to books in Maine public and school libraries and places these actions within the greater context of challenges nationwide.

The author of this commentary describes the theory, origin, purpose, and process of the pardon power generally. He then discusses the story behind the pardon of Donald Gellers by Maine Governor Janet T. Mills. And finally, the author explains how this pardon helped advance subsequent policy actions in Maine.

Maine Balsam Library Consortium supports Maine's isolated rural libraries with inexpensive access to the Open Source Evergreen automated card catalog. Rural libraries deal with limited budges, limited library training or experience, and minimal technology support. The Balsam Consortium provides an inexpensive automated card catalog, along ongoing technology support, and a mentorship approach to meeting the needs of each local library.

The authors of this research brief conducted a series of qualitative interviews with people in the Frenchman Bay watershed in Maine. Based on the interviews, they identified emergent themes regarding place attachments to Frenchman Bay and sense of place. Scale was identified as an umbrella concept encompassing the other themes, including perceived environmental and community risks and drawbacks; aesthetic, historical, and recreation-based place attachments; and concerns intersecting with adjacent marine tensions such as state licensing processes and the shifting of traditional working waterfronts to tourism-based economies. The study highlights several implications for aquaculture policy in Maine.

An interview with Marijke Visser, the Maine State Library's director of library development. Visser is the winner of the American Library Association 2024 Movers and Shakers Advocates Award recognizing her outstanding work in changing libraries in Maine. She has implemented collaborations and partnerships including, for example, with the Maine Connectivity Authority and the Governor’s Climate Council Equity Subcommittee.

Physicians have important roles to play in the climate crisis because they deal with the health impacts of climate change. We surveyed physicians in Maine about climate change and health, and of the 108 respondents, 84 (78 percent) believe that climate change poses a threat to the health of their patients, particularly for asthma, vector-borne diseases, heat-related illnesses, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and mental health problems. Most reported that these conditions are becoming more prevalent, and they identified children, older adults, and patients with chronic health conditions as those most at risk. Despite this awareness, most respondents did not discuss climate change as a health determinant with their patients, although they identified communicating with patients and the public as a role for physicians.