LIBRARY HAPPENINGS
Town Meeting Roundup
In March 2003, public libraries were requested to provide Granite State Libraries with a brief description of successful library initiatives or notable budget increases approved at Town Meeting. A number of libraries seem to have done well. The successful libraries were:
Alton - The good people of Alton voted for $13,000 to start a Capital Improvement Fund (3 year plan) to add an elevator in the elevator shaft that was built during the renovation/addition in 1997.
Brentwood - The voters of Brentwood passed a $630,000 appropriation for an addition to the Mary E. Bartlett Memorial Library on March 13th at Town Meeting. As this was the first attempt, we were thrilled. Thanks go to three librarians for their support, Tracy Waldron, East Kingston, Hope Godino, Exeter, and Rhoda Capron, Nottingham. Tracy is one of the Board of Library Trustees and in on all of the planning and the aggravation of an initiative to combine our library with the schools. Hope was good enough to show up on Town Meeting night to support us. Rhoda shared her expertise on just how Nottingham went about getting their addition.
Canterbury - Elkins Library had a $2.8 million bond to build a new fire/safety building and new town garage and to renovate the present town garage and fire station complex to create a new library. The overall budget is about $800,000, with $125,000 coming from the Capital Reserve Fund. It appears that the library will be moving in about a year and a half when the entire project is projected to be complete.
Candia - Smyth Library's budget increased 24% for increased costs association with the new building.
Hampstead - The town of Hampstead passed a rather complicated issue this year. The appropriation was for $560,000. $725,000 of that will come from the Capital Reserve Fund, $60,000 from private donations, and $225,000 from current year taxation. A second article authorized the selectmen to direct the proceeds of the sale of a town owned piece of land to the completion of the library building, which means that it will go to reduce the $225,000 from current taxation. This article also passed. The first Hampstead Public Library building committee was formed in 1984. The building will be finished this year and expand to the second floor in 2004. It has been 20 years in the making.
Moultonborough - The town approved two warrant articles for the Moultonborough Public Library. An addition to be built in 2-3 years. "To see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $100,000 to be put in the Capital Reserve Fund, a trust fund established under Article 13 of the 2001 Town Warrant to be expended for the future expansion of the Moultonborough Public Library." "To see if the town will vote to authorize the Board of Selectmen to withdraw the sum of $100,000 from the Capital Reserve Fund, a trust fund established under Article 13 of the 2001 Town Warrant to be expended for the future expansion of the Moultonborough Public Library. These funds to be earmarked for further architectural planning, site development and construction planning."
Nottingham - To see if the municipality will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $5,185 to complete constructing the kitchen/storage area in the Chesley Memorial Library. From this total, the Library Trustees propose to fund $2,000 from grants and other fund raising projects, leaving a balance of $3,185 to be raised from taxes. Motion passed on March 15.
Piermont - The library's budget was approved at town meeting on March 11th with a 40% increase in town monies for the library. The additional $8,000 will support all aspects of the budget and acknowledges the town's willingness to support our program and the unreality of expecting seven (mostly working) trustees to raise thousands of dollars each year to cover budget expenses.
Sanbornville - One Selectman at a Budget Committee meeting motioned to raise the library budget by $12,000 to hire a part-time children's librarian to work 26 hours per week. The motion was passed unanimously.
Sunapee - It's a go for the library trustees to raise $1.8 million for a new town library, which will be built on Ski Tow Hill. Voters will spend $57,500 from a Capital Reserve Fund for the new library. The Article also asked voters to approve raising $1,842,500 through fundraising and let the Friends of the Abbott Library put $90,000 of their own money into the new building. Library Trustee Chairman Peter Urbach has said that choosing a site this year and the town's support of the project would be instrumental to the library trustees' fundraising campaign. The trustees plan to spend $30,000 to $75,000 to hire a company to raise the $2 million.
BARRINGTON LIBRARY HOSTS POET LAUREATE
Poet Laureates Amiri Baraka (N.J.) and Marie Harris (N.H.) will do a poetry reading at the Barrington Public Library on April 25th at 2:00 p.m. For more information on the poets and other poetry events happening around the State go to http://www.poetryandpolitics.or.
TAYLOR LIBRARY, EAST DERRY MARKS 125 YEARS AS A LIBRARY
It opened with 917 volumes in a small room across the street from its current location on February 23, 1878. On February 24, 2003, Taylor Library held an all day birthday party and open house to celebrate 125 years of continuous service to the town of Derry and East Derry.
Taylor Library was founded with a bequest of $1,000 each from Harriet and her sister Emma Taylor. In 1930 the library moved to a larger space across the street at 49 East Derry Road where it has remained ever since. Frederick J. Shepard, Jr., (Alan Shepard, Jr.'s uncle) gave the building to the town to house the library. Alan's grandmother, Annie was a librarian at Taylor Library for many years and Alan's father served as a Trustee for 52 years.
Trustees and staff hosted the day long birthday party complete with cake, punch, and balloons. Over 100 people came throughout the day to wish the library well. Many brought presents to help us celebrate the occasion. One patron gave the library's building fund a check for $125 to celebrate each year of existence.
GOFFSTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY - has made it easier for the blind and visually impaired to access the library's volumes.
Two new software programs, Magic a screen magnification program, and Jaws, a screen reading program from Freedom Scientific - have been installed on one of the libraries computers.
Dianne Hathaway, Library Director, is thrilled with the new software. "It has opened up the world to them. Think of the access they didn't have before."
Magic can be used by anyone with impaired vision, colorblindness by magnifying the text on the screen from two to 16 times. With text smoothing, mouse enhancements, screen locators and inverse colors for contrast reading, Magic can allow someone with impaired vision to fully experience a computer.
Jaws, the other software program makes it possible for blind people to use the library's card catalog and databases, the Internet, e-mail, Instant Messenger, Real Player, America Online, word-processors, Microsoft programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook.
"We're hoping to have other libraries do this," said Michael York, State Librarian.
Ross Doerr, a certified Jaws trainer of the N.H. Association for the Blind introduced the new Jaws software to the Goffstown public on October 16, 2002. Doerr, an attorney, became blind as an adult, but the Jaws software allowed him to stay in touch with his kids through e-mail. Jaws has become his windows to the world, he said.
"I think it's amazing," said Amy Lapointe, Assistant Library Director. "It's exciting as a librarian because we connect people with resources."
While using Jaws a voice reads out loud the text on the screen, and keystrokes take place of a mouse. As the computer reads, a higher-pitched voice is heard to stress a capitol letter. Settings that control the speaking voice, pitch, and typing echo are all options the user can use. The keystrokes are a combination of Microsoft Windows and Jaws commands.
A Jaws dictionary allows the user to specify how a word is spoken. Doerr's last name is pronounced, "deer" by Jaws. Typing in the word "door" identifies to the computer the correct pronunciation.
With a price tag of $800 to $1,400 for the Jaws software, Doerr believes it is not an option for a person living on disability to afford a computer and the software.
"It's expensive to be blind," Doerr said. "These are my mechanical eyes, it's doing for me what doctors can't."
Jaws will not read pictures that are not labeled. This can cause some minor problems while using the Internet, as not all websites are Jaws functioning. Jaws will read a picture if it is labeled which helps the blind person to "see" the picture.
Lapointe found the music group U2's website to be hard to navigate while using Jaws because of the high graphic content, which Jaws cannot read to its user.
Hathaway and Lapointe attended the Adaptive Technology Consulting seminar in Massachusetts for personal one-on-one training of the software.
"I'm still learning it," Lapointe said. "It's a lot to learn. It would be difficult for someone who was not familiar with a computer."
The Goffstown Public Library was the only library to apply for the LSTA grant money to purchase Jaws and Magic made available through the New Hampshire State Library.
The N.H. Association for the Blind is aware of 51 legally blind or visually impaired individuals in Goffstown and an additional 22 in nearby communities.
Basic Jaws training is available through the N.H. Association for the Blind.
"I think it is unrealistic for any member of this library to train someone to use the Jaws program," Doerr said.
The library purchased a monitor of 19 inches for the computer after they had been accepted for the grant. An enlarged character keyboard will be a future purchase.
"Hopefully now that this is in place we'll have people who will use it," Lapointe said.
The Jaws and Magic software were made possible through funds administered by the N.H. State Library and provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
- reprinted with permission
CONWAY PUBLIC LIBRARY GROUNDBREAKING
Congratulations to the Staff and Trustees of the Conway Public Library on the groundbreaking for their addition, which will take place April 11th. The road to the new addition has been a long and difficult one for those seeking to improve library services in Conway. The first vote for an addition was taken in 1994, an affirmative vote of 66% was needed to pass the warrant article, the vote was only 50%. There were four subsequent votes on the project taken between 1995 and 2001. In 2001, 60% of the voters voted to build an addition to the Library (new legislation had changed the percentage needed to pass a bond to 60%). The wording of the article was challenged by a group of Conway citizens requiring a Special Town Meeting. A subsequent lawsuit challenged the Legislature's revision of the percentage required to pass a Bond resulting in a two-year delay on construction.
The addition of 8,000 square feet will include a new Children's room, circulation and reference desk, meeting room, and stacks for adult fiction and non-fiction. The Architects for the Conway project are Tennant/Wallace, Tom Wallace is the principal architect. Margaret Marschner, Director of the Conway Public Library says "our success should be an inspiration to all librarians working on getting additions, if you persevere you can get new space to better serve your patrons" |
