Diane Nadeau, director of the Lisbon Falls Community Library, said Wednesday that she enjoys acting out the voices of the “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” book with children’s librarian William Meakin, right, during storytelling hour. Nadeau plays the part of the pigeon while Meakin plays the part of the pig. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

LISBON — When Diane Nadeau was hired to direct the Lisbon Falls Community Library in 1986, it occupied just a single room.

There was no backroom, DVD room or children’s garden. What is now the children’s room downstairs was then old and musty, housing overflow Town Office employees.

The intimate, small town library was nothing like what she had experienced before. At the time, she was the librarian at Webster Intermediate School in Auburn, and before that, Bates College in Lewiston.

But the members of the library association were easy going — one asked her how she felt about books for the hearing impaired during her interview — and she was eager for a change.

“The best decision was to accept that position in the ‘small but vibrant library’ and move it forward,” she said, quoting the original job posting she found in the newspaper.

At the Town Council meeting Tuesday night, councilors celebrated Nadeau’s 35th anniversary with the Lisbon Falls library. Jo-Jean Keller, who was a member of the committee that hired Nadeau and the former children’s librarian, presented the certificate.

“She’s always thinking about what the next steps are, how to move the library forward, how to do the best job for the town,” Keller said.

During her career, Nadeau became the first director of the Lisbon Falls and Lisbon village libraries after the private organizations became a town department, a challenging transition, she said. She led both libraries through a controversial merger in the 1990s, which ended with the sale of the Lisbon village location and the expansion of the Lisbon Falls Community Library.

Diane Nadeau sits Wednesday in her office in the Lisbon Falls Community Library. Nadeau was recognized by the Town Council on Tuesday for her 35 years as the director of the library. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

When Lisbon approved its budget by an annual Town Meeting vote, Nadeau learned she would not simply be allocated funds for the library like she had as a school librarian.

“I learned quickly that I needed to be a strong voice and a cheerleader for them, for patrons who wanted and needed this service,” she said.

Armed with carefully curated information like the number of books purchased that year or the number of children participating in story time, selectmen and residents seldom denied her requests, she said.

Several years after Lisbon relocated its Town Office from Main Street to state Route 196, Nadeau helped earn the library an $80,000 grant to renovate the building’s downstairs into a warm, lively children’s room in the early 2000s. Due to the large grant and help from community volunteers, the town had to raise $20,000 more to complete the project.

Nadeau is proud of the library’s progress through the years, but the children’s room holds a special place in her heart. More than just a place to read, it has become a space for kids and their parents to learn, socialize and make friends.

Last year, 130 local kids logged a combined 2,500 hours combined reading, as tracked by the library’s popular summer reading program. Despite being the height of summer, Nadeau and the other employees do not take vacations during the six-week summer program to ensure its success.

“That’s a commitment to our children,” she said.

In the past, when children reached the summer reading goal, they were rewarded with fun trips to the public works department and even a day spent waving at folks from the top of the Lisbon Falls fire station.

“You always know when someone’s very passionate about what they do, like, she just loves the library,” Children’s Librarian William Meakin said. “That is the best thing to see, is someone who has that love for the library and making sure that the community has that service,” he said.

For now, Nadeau will continue to help adapt the Lisbon Falls Community Library’s services to the needs of the community, just as she has for decades.