LIVERMORE FALLS — Treat Memorial Library, located at 56 Main Street in Livermore Falls, has gotten their used book store, Elsie’s Re-Read Used Book Emporium, back to regular hours. Located in the basement of the building, the book store offers used books and DVDs in exchange for donations to the library.

The book store hours are Tuesday from 4 – 7 p.m., and Wednesday from 12:30 – 3 p.m.

Library Director Brianna Rush shared with the Livermore Falls Advertiser the book store is donation based and customers may take as many books as they would like based on their donation. “It’s however much you’d like to donate,” Rush said, “and those funds do help the library.”

Access to the used book store is through the staff, who will escort guests to the basement to the used book store to look around during business hours. “If a patron comes in during library hours and wants to go down and get some use books, we take them down,” she stated.

Items in the used book store come from donations and the library’s own inventory. Rush stated they accept lightly used books and DVDs for donation, and they ask potential donors to reach out to the library beforehand to set up a date to drop off donations.

Rush stated they accept books of all types in fair condition. “Not moldy,” she shared with a laugh. “That is pretty much the standard.”

Founded by former director Elaine Smith, Elsie’s Re-Read Used Book Emporium is named after Elsie Mabel Reynolds Treat, wife of George Winfield Treat who is the namesake of the library.

The Treats, both natives of Livermore Falls, were considered by many to be outstanding citizens of the town. George Treat was a descendant of Deacon Elijah Livermore and director for the Livermore Falls Trust Company from 1914 until his death in 1952.

Elsie Treat, intent on honoring the legacy of her late husband, signed documents that gave the land to the town of Livermore Falls and had a brand new brick building built on the location. The George Winfield Treat Memorial Library was dedicated in October of 1954 and has been a staple of the community for almost 70 years.

Elsie Treat’s work did not end there, as she would go on to found the Treat Gallery at Bates College in 1955 [now known as The Bates College Museum of Art] and the George Winfield Treat Science Hall at Hebron Academy in 1960.

She also started a scholarship foundation to continue the work of her late husband, who during his lifetime made anonymous donations to pay for the college education for underprivileged kids.

Elsie Treat passed in 1975, and though her name may not be as well known has her husband’s, the Treat Memorial Library makes sure she is remember with every book that passes through Elsie’s Re-Read Used Book Emporium.

“It’s a nice way to give books as a second life and it’s a nice way for people to get something, but also to give a little money to support their library,” Rush added.

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