As the town enters the giving season, Wareham Free Library patrons can now give the gift of a magazine subscription to the library – and, by extension, their fellow patrons.

Reference services librarian Deb Rich said the library’s funding cuts have provided little in the way of wiggle room, so some of its non-essential services had to go. One service that got the axe was the library’s many magazine subscriptions.

“We used to subscribe to 50 titles … and three or four newspapers,” Rich said. “We got the bill, and we just couldn’t pay it. Just like everything else, the town gave us operating money, but no money for materials or books. … That line was zeroed out in the budget.”

Now, there are a few magazines that still circulate, though the library isn’t paying for them – “they’re just nice, I guess” – and the Friends of the Wareham Free Library are trying to start a gift subscription campaign in order to supplement the current anemic offerings. Though individual subscriptions often only offer a free gift subscription for a year, Rich said it is better than nothing.

“People were noticing that the magazines were trickling away … now, we only have four active subscriptions,” Rich said.

The four titles the library currently gets are Smithsonian, Seventeen, Better Homes & Gardens, and Family Fun. The titles the library is looking for include National Geographic, Time, and lighter magazines like People.