Libraries aren't going away; they're leading the way.

Wiscasset Public Library's director Pam Dunning made that point to guests at a Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce “Business After Hours” event October 3.

The world of electronic books and online resources depends on libraries and librarians to organize it, and help people to access it, she said.

The town's 1799 library is in a tie with another that started the same year in Massachusetts, for being the oldest, continuously operating ones in the United States; the Wiscasset library is keeping up with the times with e-books and around-the-clock Wi-Fi access, Dunning said.

“So, if you see a car pulling up here at 2 in the morning, it's just someone looking up a map to see where they're going next.”

The library subscribes to the Maine InfoNet Download Library, with which Wiscasset library card-holders can download about 4,500 e-books and about 2,500 audio books, Dunning said. They can access the download library from home.

Among community outreach efforts, library staff bring books to the Senior Center at the Wiscasset Community Center, so that members can borrow the books right from there.

“The library is 214 years (old) and going strong, and still very happy to be serving the community,” Dunning said.

The chamber event drew some of Wiscasset's newest businesspeople including Enrique Pinero and Harry DeLoe of the computer services business Atlas-Micro on Route 1; and long-timers like Vickie Hersom, manager of the Bank of Maine branch where she's worked 30 years this month.