Concord's Library is it really a community wide resource?
The Monitor offered its view on what the City Council should do with the Library Budget in today's editorial page, the City Council has heard from members of the Library's Board and even from the Library Director, but what do the people of Concord think?
People that live in the Dontown can access the library easily and the Penacook Community even has its own brnch but what about the Heights and East Concord. If you want to make use of the Library's collection of books or access the internet from the Library's bank of computers and you happen to live on the east side of th river then you better get in your motor vehicle or hope that you can catch the CAT bus or you are out of luck.
When I was a child growing up on the heights (back in the dark ages when the neighborhood was still called burglars Island) the bookmobil used to visit Dame school once a wek and we could check out library books that would have otherwise been next to impossible for us to read. Now there is no bookmobil, there is no Heights library branch and the library board or the Monitor don't really seem to give a damm.
The heights has one of the fastest if not the fasted growing populations in the city, we have a large amount of young familys with lots of kids and yet the Library proponents can't seem to give much thought to how they can meet our needs. I wonder why? Can't be because the Library board has few members from the neighborhood or that the Monitor's editors don't live in the area. Maybe they all believe that all that exists up here are the Mall, restaurants and grocery stores. Or maybe they just don't believe that we can read!
Before I can vote as a City Councilor representing the Heights to give additional funds to the Library that doesn't offer much to some parts of the city I need to make sure that the Police and Fire Departments who both respond to and work with the Heights neighborhood are fully funded. Before I agree to give the Library $80,000 to "study" what they should do in the future I want to know that the Library staff understands that they should be a community wide resource not just a department that serves certain parts of town.
I love the library and adored my weekly visits to the bookmobile when it visited Dame school when I was a child and I would love to support the Library now. I just want to have it available to all of us in Concord.
the library's mission & its needs
Kathy, as a member of the Concord Public Library Foundation Board, let me weigh in on this issue.
We on the board are very aware of the issues you bring up in this blog entry. The Library’s mission is to serve the entire city. Has it done so, and indeed can it, as it is currently located and funded?
Though the staff performs admirably with the tools they’re given, we think Concord can do a lot better, and that’s why we’re pushing for the Needs Assessment. We need to define what Concord—all of Concord—should expect from its library, and then we need to set goals and find ways to achieve them.
We know most of the questions, but we don’t know the answers. That’s what the Needs Assessment is for. The best way to improve services to all Concord neighborhoods is to go through this process.
I'm grateful to the Monitor for giving me this opportunity to open a dialogue with you on this subject. You know where to find me if you want to discuss this further. I can also steer you to other board members and trustees, all of whom share your desire to improve library services for all of Concord.
--Michael
An Invitation
Councilor Rogers, I was dismayed to read of your opinion of the Monitor's and the CPL Board's perceived lack of caring about the Heights' community. I was sorry you could not attend the information session and tour that was held for city councilors in March where you would have heard concerns like yours addressed and had a chance to speak with the trustees and foundation members directly. The follow-up letter we sent should have set your mind at ease as well as heightened your awareness of the necessity for a Needs Assessment to evaluate the role of the library in serving the entire Concord community.
Your comments have made clear to me that there is a misperception about the efforts of those involved in overseeing the planning for our library's future and I welcome the chance to correct this. I hope that you can meet with us soon to discuss your concerns.
I have sent you a private email with my contact information and I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Inez McDermott
Chair, Concord Public Library
Board of Trustees
Kathy: You raise some very
Kathy: You raise some very valid points that the library staff and many of us who have been working tirelessly for the library have been raising for years. In principle the library is a resource for all in the community. And realistically we all know that its geographic location undeniably makes access easier for some and harder for others. A decision made scores of years ago about where the library should be built, or a decision to discontinue the bookmobile when budget dollars were tight, should not be mistaken as disregard on the part of the current staff or Foundation for the needs of the Heights and East Concord. The library staff and the library Foundation Board is requesting funds to meaningfully assess how the library can best serve the community – it is just for the reasons you mention that we need to examine current use and non-use, needs that are well met and ill met, and options for the future. Thank you for your public service to Concord.
Marcia Hennelly Moran
President
Concord Public Library Foundation
You are a city councilor and with that comes responsibility to the city of Concord and your constituents. The library could use a bookmobile and an addition or more branches. But if the city wants to short shrift the library where do you think we will be? More and more it seems like borrowing from peter to pay paul is the "New Hampshire Way".