Life at the library

The Kilbourn Public Library has been undergoing an expansion project since last August. The above image shows you the building more or less prior to the expansion. This was built in the early 1990s, and the size of the collection, the number of patrons and the size of staff have doubled since that time. The image below shows the new section, outlined in black. This is for an expanded children's section, a new young adult section, an adult reading area, program and work areas and several small rooms for use by tutors and others who need study space and privacy. The very end of the new section includes a garage and work area for the bookmobile. (No more shoveling the snow off in the morning or moving the bookmobile every night during the winter to accommodate snow-parking regulations and expected snowstorms. And I won't have to start it up ten minutes before leaving on winter mornings to get the inside temperature above freezing.)

The former children's section in the old part of the building is being converted for an increase in public access computers. Many of our local residents either have no computers at home or have only dial-up access. Our computers have become a major part of the job search for people, many of whom discover that some places now require them to fill out applications online. There will also be other improvements to the staff work areas, a new genealogy workroom and more.

This is the way the new thing looks. The architects and contractors have done an outstanding job of blending the expansion into the existing building so that it looks like it was all constructed at one time.

The far left side of the building, beyond the tower and the entrance-way you see there, is not part of the library. It is the Community Center and serves a variety of groups, including Meals on Wheels and provides meeting rooms for lectures and a number of Senior Center-type activities.

We moved everything into the new part of the building a few weeks ago, and now we are crammed in there while the old part of the building is renovated. We hope to be fully operational in the entire facility in May. The new part looks great inside and we expect the old part to blend in beautifully. We are fortunate that funding was all worked out, using stimulus money and other resources, before the economic crunch got so bad. The problem now is that we will be unable to hire extra staff, so the full potential cannot be realized until the economy improves. We all hope that day comes soon for everyone's sake.

It will be interesting to see the effect of cuts to the state budget which will hit public libraries across the board. Despite our good situation, I understand that for a while we will not be hiring new staff, will have to put a moratorium on purchasing new materials for the collection and may face other losses due to reduced funding for the South Central Library System, of which we are a part.

We have already been approached by some small, outlying communities who want to know if they can be added to the Bookmobile's circuit. As smaller schools are closed down, and school library budgets are likely to be cut dramatically, people are looking for alternatives for their children. I would not be surprised, actually, to see some of the smaller libraries in our area fold completely, placing more demand on Kilbourn and perhaps creating a need for more Bookmobile services.

The Bookmobile is my primary responsibility and I would love to be able to take it out every day to some of these places. But our own financial realities may render that impossible. On the other hand, if neighboring communities want us badly enough, they may be willing to contribute a bit more to cover things like fuel costs to make it possible for us to come once or twice a month. It won't be the same as having a library there all the time, but for those who read, it will be much better than having nothing at all. The Bookmobile carries about 1,000 items, including books for adults, young adults and children, audio books, DVDs and magazine. This is a circulating collection, so every time a person visits, there are new things to check out. In the summer we take the Summer Reading Program activities to kids who cannot come into the main library easily, and last year we added special craft kits for the children to take home and make.

Of course, our visits to nursing homes and residences for the elderly combine bringing library materials with visiting folks who may not get out much on their own. It did not take me long to realize that the bookmobile provides an important, if informal, social service to our seniors.

I hope the idea of taking these things to more places will at least get some consideration. If we are all to share in the sacrifice, we can also try to all share in the admittedly limited resources we have.