7 January 2015

7 January 2015----------It has been nearly two months since I have written on my blog and a lot has happened. First, Kristy has taken the position of assistant director/tech librarian at Parchment. This is a big move for her and we wish her great success in her new position. This of course means that we are without a Children's Librarian. We have posted the job position and we have 8 applicants so far. The application period ends at 5:00 pm on Friday, 16 January 2015. We will interview the week of the 19th and hope to have a new person starting no later than 2 February 2015. Kristy was an excellent children's librarian and we all miss her.----------The Library Board is organizing a Fund Raising Committee to raise funds for some renovations to the Library. The addition was completed in 1986 and in the 29 years since we find that the Library needs to replace and upgrade the building. The two major projects are for a new roof and new carpeting. Between the two the cost is approximately $125,000. The next level of upgrading is in our computer network. Most of the computers are over five years old and when the addition was built the idea of having computers in the library was the stuff of science fiction. We want to not only upgrade our network hardware but also replace the current computers so that we will have 10-12 public access computers instead of the eight we currently have. The phone system was also installed in 1986 and the technology is not compatible with the new phone technology. To upgrade the phone and computer systems is about $30,000. The front entrance to the Library has to be repaired. You may have noticed that the center guardrail is loose and we have yellow tape and warning signs on the railing. Over the years the mortar and caulking on the brick work has come out. The stairs will need to be replaced as pieces of the stairs have broken off. While we are having the work done to the front stairs we are also going to have the brickwork on the stairs and ramp areas repaired. The estimate for the work is about $15,000. This is a rough estimate as the weather turned bad before the engineers could get a more precise estimate. Finally, we will need new computer carrells to place the additional computers as well as new chairs. Other furniture will be examined and pieces that need to be replaced will be ordered with the new computer stations. Depending on how much furniture we need the costs are pegged at $10,000. From experience it is always wise to add and extra 10% to the costs to cover unexpected expenses which would be $17,000 for a grand total of about $187,000. We are looking for people to work on the fundraising committee. We need everyone from those who can stuff envelopes, people who know of organizations that donate to community projects, people who would like to speak to groups and people who are available to help in any way they can. This is a community effort to do some repair and renovation work on the Library building.----------Andrea has become our new head of circulation and adult services. She will be ordering adult fiction materials as well as running the book discussion group. She is also the Library Webmaster or is it Mistress? She will continue to write articles for the South County News and continue to help patrons work with their wireless devices.----------So here is to the start of a new year may it be happy and prosperous.-------- John