Library

Our community library is now seven years old. The community is almost 100, which shows the interest the powers that be have had in providing a library. The Friends of the Library have done yeoman service finding a space, getting donated books, staffing with volunteers (etc. etc.)

It's been a long haul. From being open four hours a week staffed with volunteers with no checkout system to a library with four full time staffers (three professional librarians (that's with a Master of Library Science degree) and a full time circulation desk person has been a labor. A labor of love, needless to say, but a labor. We have computer check out, a web site, wifi and loads of brand new bestsellers.

We have weathered a Founder's Syndrome - when the founders expect to have a say about everything, including how books are cataloged to where to hang pictures on the wall - with only minor scars.

Now we are transitioning from a volunteer-run operation to a professional corporation. The Executive Committee will shrink from 30 to 10 and a lot of us old presidents have moved to the non-Executive level. That's a good thing.

The Director has even changed the locks so random people can't wander around after hours or at times the library's not open.

Our next challenge is extracting ourselves from our benevolent but mystic landlord and finding property on which we can build our own free standing library. After three tries at the City Council without success, it's pretty obvious that he won't be able to convince the city fathers that a library in the basement of a large office building would be in the best interest of the city.

We absolutely would not have been where we are as a library without his active help and donation of 5500 square feet of space for $1 a year for the past six years, but we need to move on.

What I want (not speaking for the Board - just as an interested volunteer) is a free-standing state-of-the-art library which is adequate to serve our high-end well-educated population of 23,000. I envision a library district, with an elected board of managers and a guaranteed revenue stream from the city.

It's amazing what a dedicated groups of people (even when they know not what they are doing) can do.