Does internet replace a library? In 300 years!

Have you heard these questions/statements:

• I have a computer at home. Why does anyone need a library anymore?
• Over 95% of homes in Boxford have access to the internet via personal computers…
• We have Google, who needs a library?

These ideas disturb me.  My father was an engineer, and he ingrained in me an annoying habit of considering questions to their logical extreme.  So that annoying habit asks:

Why do we need grocery stores?  We have Peapod.

Why do we need golf courses? You can play golf on the computer.

Why do we need a COA?  Seniors can learn html, design their own web page, and go to a chat room!

We need, or want these things because they are real life, not a virtual reality.  Virtual community has lots of positives: it’s huge, mobile, interconnected and fast.  The down side?  It’s virtual: digital, not tangible, it can’t read your body language or anticipate your response by what your expression shows.  The very technology that makes it possible also narrows our field of vision.  Peapod was convenient when I was too sick to do the grocery shopping, but normally I want the freedom to read the labels, consider the options, maybe try a different brand.  I don’t play golf, but I have family who would string me up for that concept.  Not go outside??? Let the computer be the golfer? What was I thinking, slap, slap, slap.  And while they might enjoy designing websites, don’t seniors deserve to choose their brand of reality for themselves as well???  It’s tough to play pinochle in a chat room, the peanuts taste awful.

This is not internet or Google bashing. I am using the internet to put this in front of you, and regularly use Google to find information.  But this is new technology, less than a generation old.  As I tell my nine year old, “I remember the world before the internet, e-mail, and search engine optimization.”  Like all new technologies the internet has less than thrilling developments.  When did you open a book and find yourself distracted by advertising dancing in the margins?  Have you ever opened the most recent issue of Fine Homebuilding and encountered a 404 ERROR message and blank pages?  Ever had pornography jump out at you when a research paper about beavers was assigned? These things and worse are out on the internet waiting for the unwary.  Spam filters are big business!

“My guess is about 300 years until computers are as good as, say, your local reference library in doing search,” Craig Silverstein, Technology director Google. From CBS News March 2004.

Access to information is the underlying thread here.  The internet is chock full of information, and doesn’t look likely to slow down soon.  Search engines aren’t important, they’re absolutely vital if you want to find relevant information.  “Libraries don’t just offer the hardware, but also offer the expertise of librarians in helping teach people how to use the Internet and find the information they need quickly.  While Google can give you 50,000 responses to your inquiry, your librarian can help you find the one answer you need.”  American Library Association.  ALA

Google believes libraries are important; they are digitizing the worlds best, 7 million volumes and counting.  Under the proposed Google settlement with publishers and authors, those books will not be made available to the end-consumer.   Google is providing a free subscription to each public library in the country.   Does that mean they believe that the internet is better than books?   “I still believe that sitting down and reading a book is the best way to really learn something.” Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, Interview with Charlie Rose March 9 2009.   In other words, to take full advantage of the wealth of information a giant company is collecting, we’ll need to go to the library. Yep, we’ll be able to access all that knowledge here in town, IF we have a library

Sneak Peek: The NEW Conceptual Design

“Concept: something thought or imagined: something that somebody has thought up, or that somebody might be able to imagine” Webster’s dictionary

Well after a winter of meetings and research we have a new conceptual design!! This is an IDEA of a building, not a building plan. This is not the final ‘New Library’, nor are ALL the decisions cast in stone. We can’t honestly give you a final cost, building is a team sport, and Estimate is the name of the game.

The process of municipal building is complex, and time consuming. All of the firms we interviewed had aspects to recommend, and we questioned them closely to decide which would be the best fit for our town, for our patrons. We selected the firm of Schwartz/Silver. Ms Hyatt, principal architect, has 12 years of Library design under her belt, and her resume is full of excellent designs, each a unique structure for an individual community. Libraries in historic districts, communities with divided agendas, difficult sites, and complex requirements seem to be her specialty. Most telling is a letter from the planners of the Edgartown Library that spotlights her problem solving skills. Our first meeting with her was a litany of conflicting needs, program demands, site limitations, budget and grant constraints. I personally would have run screaming from the room. As our meetings with her have progressed she has consistently brought us ideas, flexibility, attention to detail; in short a workable plan.

Site Plan Angela Hyatt AIA Principal, Schwartz/Silver Architects Inc

Working from the concepts outlined in Thomas Hubka’s book “Big House Little House Back House Barn” we’ve developed a concept that reflects the mass of agrarian buildings; shelters that grow, and are added to over time. To prevent the buildings’ size from overwhelming the scale of surrounding homes and community buildings Ms Hyatt has broken the program areas into four sections. They are grouped around a light gathering courtyard. This courtyard will allow light to penetrate more of the building and contribute to user comfort, while keeping the electric bill lower. Yes we will have to keep it clean, weather happens.

This plan allows a site plan that respects a series of a stated community desires:

• Preserve a nearby knoll, and views of the pony field. The new buildings will be located 186 feet from Elm Street, behind the Cummings building. The existing knoll will remain, and the footpath will be relocated.

• Parking that avoids the “sea of asphalt”. The rear parking area will provide more parking for patrons, and a safe drop off/pickup up area. The fifty foot rear setback will be planted with screening trees and shrubs.

• This plan allows us to build on grade and avoid the ‘river that runs through’ our basement.

Most exciting of all, following a comment from a member of the  HDC at our first meeting  Ms Hyatt has created a slope behind the Cummings House that echoes the knolls nearby. This camouflages a significant portion of the 19,500 square feet. Behind that slope, and under a garden roof will be the children’s library.(it’s just a plan folks!) Built at grade, not underground it will still be able to take advantage of the insulating properties of being covered by earth. The “green” potential of this roof can be explored in many ways. See here to explore Green Roof technology.

Proposed Program Areas 1st Floor

1st Floor Angela Hyatt AIA Principal, Schwartz/Silver Architects Inc

This series of concepts will allow all of our program areas to use the building in an efficient manner. We are building a library for our children, young adults, teens, adults, and seniors to use in comfort and safety. A program in the children’s area will be able to run concurrently with a meeting in the Large Program room, group study in the young adult area, and newspaper reading in the Browsing Area. Each of these activities will have enough space to not elbow another group from comfortable use of the facility. The location of the Workroom directly adjacent to circulation will simplify the flow of personnel and materials. With an elevator located near the entrance (X marks the spot) the entire library will be ADA compliant. Our whole community will be able to use the Program Room both during and after library hours.

Proposed Program areas 2nd Floor

2nd Floor Angela Hyatt AIA Principal, Schwartz/Silver Architects Inc

This is just the barest outline of the design. The model is on display in the Library, please come visit and take a look! See how this building can fit into our history and keep the heart of the village alive and vital. The trustee’s will be bringing it to meetings, and information sessions. Please let us know if your group would like to hear more! You can comment below, to set up a meeting.  To become a wordpress user click here, and follow their directions. Look for radio button to say: Just a user ID please.

Remember: A plan is what you start with, a building is the sum total of changes and implementation.

Band Aid

6. Why can’t we just fix the current library buildings?

The bigger question of what we would lose by simply renovating the Libraries actually has a more complex answer than losing half our current space.  According to the study by Gienapp Design Associates 2001, Library Feasibility Study, we would have:

68% reduced shelf space

50% reduced children’s seating

50% reduced juvenile seating space

50% reduced children and teen computer work station space

33% reduced adult computer work station space

57% reduced conference/meeting space

100% reduced space for chairs and sofa in browsing/new collection items space

If you are given to numbers that comes to an average of 58% of our library.  If you’d just like to sit down and read the latest Knits  it is more like 100%.

Let’s think about our programs.  Most of them take place in the children’s area, the conference/meeting space, and the browsing area.  If you average it that’s a 69% impact of lost space for programs.  At this juncture we would have no room for anything except stacks; our library would become a repository for books, lacking space for the patrons and programs that make it a community that takes place in reality, not in virtual space.

Certification and Apologies for Lost notebooks

Several months ago I was  approached by a patron  just after she had checked out a book she had requested from another library.  She asked me if the library would lose the Merimack Valley Library Consortium (MVLC) certification that allowed her to request books from other libraries if we were forced to close the West Library.  Her concern was that if we lost the square feet in our branch library that it would affect our reciprocal relationships with other libraries.

I took down her phone number and promised to call her with the answer.  Unfortunately I have lost the notebook!!  Hence the apologies in the title!  I did walk immediately up to the director’s office and research her question, and the answer is more complicated than a simple loss of square footage.

The library certification, is issued by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners,  MBLC, and requires three things:

1. Maintain a material appropriation based on the average of the last 3 years X 2.5%

2. Lend freely

3. A minimum number of hours open to the public

Basically the bottom line is budget.  Our budget must grow, on a three year average, by 2.5%.  So when the trustees were asked by the Board of Selectmen and The Finance Committee to review our budget for savings to offset the dramatic decline in state revenue projected  for FY2010 we had to look for an answer.

To find the 5% they asked for we had little choice but to close the West Library.  It was a contested, unpopular decision that we made with heavy hearts.  But the tune of these financial times left us very little logical recourse.  We can return some $20,000 dollars to the town to help balance the budget for the short term, but it leaves our budget unable to meet Municipal Appropriations Requirement. (that 2.5% increase)

So, yes, we could lose our certification, and the ability to borrow books within the MVLC and throughout the state.  Just for perspective: Yes, the patron I met with this question could lose access to the technical books she requests for study purposes. She would either have to purchase them, or travel to another library and use them on site.    The library will apply for a waiver, in the fall of 2009, and would know by the spring whether we had been approved.  Waivers are granted on a case by case basis, so we can be assured that our library will be considered on it’s merits and the services offered the patrons.

Outside the box

From the Trustee Chairman:

I believe the most important question about our library services today and for the future is: “How could this new Library benefit me and my family? All the other questions are important but deep down everyone wants to know what they will get out of a new library.

Think of places and activities that are missing in our town:

• A place families can feel their teens are safe

• Teen study nights with the help of volunteers

• Teen movie night: we’ve started this already, but we could start gaming nights with competitions with more space. Kids can bring their own games and we can purchase games to be checked out.

Programs for the 3^rd to 6^th graders that are as rich and varied as those for preschool through 2^nd graders:

• Lego groups

• Model building groups

• Craft activities to compliment the curriculum at school. Did you see the display from the Masco science club recently? Or the Cole School class interpretations of children’s books during Books In Bloom?

• Summer reading collections that could house books from the Spofford library on summer loan. Current shelf space prohibits this right now.

• Report night to help students practice the format they are using at school. If they can choose a fun subject to experiment with, perhaps the “Assignment” will be less daunting.

• Story time where the 3^rd through 6^th graders read to their peers, and to younger children.

• Seasonal outdoor activities to relate to school reading.

There are people in town that would very much like to be with others. An after hours program room can bring people together.

• Movies for senior citizens with oldies but goodies like John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Rita Hayworth, James Stewart, Doris Day, and Cary Grant to name a few.

• Scrapbooking/Cardmaking classes

• Quilting group meetings

• Round table discussions: What is on your mind? The subject is predetermined and those interested will come and share their opinions. As we approach town meetings or large projects this activity could help all groups build consensus…

• Book groups

• Visiting authors

• Music nights: 50’s. 60’s 70’s, 80’s music night

• Author talks? (for children, tweens, teens, and adults)

• Community events such as musical programs/concerts?

• Enhanced art programs (need space!!)

• More adult programs/lecture series?

This is OUR gathering space, and the sky is the limit! Let’s think outside the box, and then drag it inside the building! Yes its a library, but libraries are so much more than books.

Grant ???

Can someone please explain “The Grant” ?

What do you need to know?…Here’s some deep background

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC)offers a Library Construction Grant Program whose purpose is to help local communities update their libraries. The grant process is rigorous and requires that applicant communities study the needs of the residents for library services and to plan for future library growth.

Feasibility planning for a new or renovated library began with the Trustees in the mid-1990’s. By the year 2000, the Trustees knew that professional consultation and study was needed in order to plan for a library facility that would meet the needs of Boxford in the 21st century. The Trustees and Library Director, with funding from the Town, hired two firms to prepare for a grant application. Gienapp Design Associates was hired in 2001 to perform a Library Feasibility Study to determine the current status of the libraries, to assist in planning for a future facility, and to locate and evaluate potential sites for a new library. At that point, a building ranging in size from 20,000 to 22,000 square feet was recommended. The cost of the Gienapp study was just over $13,000 ($13,252).

In 2004 the Trustees hired Tappe Associates to verify the library program of services from the Gienapp Library Feasibility Study, and to provide conceptual and schematic designs of a new library on Elm Street in order to apply for a Library Construction Grant from the MBLC. This work was done using the remainder of the Library Feasibility Study funds and library state aid funding and cost of approximately $14,000.

Town meeting voters approved application of a Library Construction Grant to the MBLC in October 2004. A grant application was prepared and submitted to the MBLC and a grant was awarded in 2005; we were on the waiting list for funding of this grant program. A request by the Trustees to fund design development for the design proposed in the grant was defeated by voters at the October 2005 Town meeting. At this point, the library was still on the waiting list and the MBLC was working at the state level to secure capital funding authorization to award monies to the libraries on the waiting list.

In the meantime, the libraries continued to deteriorate and community members sought alternative sites and solutions to the problems of our libraries. In 2007, Tappe Associates completed a Library Facility Evaluation Study of both library buildings at a cost of almost $42,000. The results were dismal, but not unexpected. Both buildings had outlived their usefulness and needed major structural repairs to bring them up to current building and access codes. The study determined that both buildings could be renovated for use as libraries, but at a combined cost of $3.1M and with the loss of 50% of the shelving space in all areas of the collection.

Town meeting in the Spring of 2008 had voted to allocate $50,000 to fund a study by Weston and Sampson. This study was planned to examine records both written and oral documenting the facts relevant to building a series of municipal facilities at the central campus. The library, a new COA, expanded soccer fields, a recreation center, and a relocated DPW were all considered for this central town owned property. In the fall of 2008 the library trustees were prevailed upon by the board of selectmen, and the Permanent non-school Building Committee to support further investigation of facilities at the Spofford location. The ensuing warrant was defeated by a significant margin.

In August 2008, the Library Construction Grant program was fully funded. Given the vote at the fall Town meeting the Trustees determined that it would be more publicly accepted and more cost effective to pursue a new design on Elm Street. We recommend that the Town accept the state grant money that is now fully funded and ready to be paid.

The grant that is available to us would be disbursed in the following manner:

• 30% of the grant is paid to the Town once the Town agrees to fund the remainder of the costs to construct the library
• 30% of the grant is paid to the Town once a properly bid general contractor has been hired by the Town and a building permit has been issued
• This means that 60% of the grant money is paid to the Town before construction even begins!
• 30% of the grant is paid to the Town when the construction phase is 75% complete
• The remaining 10% of the grant is paid to the Town upon completion and a certificate of occupancy has been issued.

The Trustees, using the remainder of the Tappe Library Facility Evaluation Study funding and with a donation from the Friends of the Boxford Town Libraries, have hired Schwartz/Silver Architects to design a new library concept on Elm Street taking into account the communities’ desires for a well integrated building in Boxford Village, an historic district.