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Openshelves
April 2003 The Vermont State Librarian, Sybil McShane, announced that a grant of $10,000 has been awarded to Reading Public Library. This allocation represents both years of funding for which the library was eligible. This grant is awarded as part of the $10 million public library incentive grant program funded by the Freeman Foundation to improve library effectiveness and community outreach in the state. The funds are dispersed by the Vermont Public Library Foundation and supplement local, state, and federal funding for Vermont's public libraries. Reading Public Library titled its grant project "Vigor" and will use the funds to rejuvenate its book collection for children and adults and for the purchase of non-print materials, including CDs and DVDs. The library plans to add a new encyclopedia, as well as celestial and terrestrial globes. A CD/cassette player (for use during children's programming), along with furniture, puzzles, and toys, will be provided for the children's room. The brass chandeliers discovered in the attic have been re-hung on the main floor of the library and are in working order. They are a gorgeous addition. There were several varieties of shade in the attic, some dating back to the 1940s, but most were in sad shape. John Baumgartner was able to obtain some lovely green glass shades to cover the bulbs. With the help of volunteers, the attic has been cleared of several decades worth of filth. Thirty bags and eleven trips to the dump were necessary to do away with the rubbish. Among the treasures that have been salvaged are a photograph of the library during its construction, handwritten minutes from the 1900s, and financial records dating back to 1899. Jane Cleveland and I have finished combing the children's catalog for cards that have no books corresponding on the shelves. We pulled more than a thousand. The entire card catalog, juvenile and adult, is now current. We are weeding the collection to make room for new arrivals. Our winter book group was a success. Five novels were read and discussed over an eight-week period. The library will be sponsoring the program again next year. Thanks to Walter Mendoza for leading the group, and thanks to all who participated. The library has many available periodicals. Patrons may either read the magazines at the library or check them out for reading at home. Among those on our shelves are Modern Maturity (AARP), Secure Retirement, Consumer Reports, Time, Yankee, Parenting, Family Fun, American Snowmobiler, Ride BMX (dirt biking), Strength (skateboarding), and 4-Wheel Drive and Sport Utility. The library also carries the Vermont Standard newspaper. Among the new additions to the bookshelves are about seventy board books for babies and toddlers. On adult shelves are A Box of Matches, by Nicholson Baker; Samaritan, by Richard Price; The Retirement Savings Time Bomb and How to Defuse It, by Ed Slott; The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold; Rural Life, by Verlyn Klinkenborg; and Population 485, by Michael Perry. Take advantage of Spring Madness at Reading Public Library. Any overdue books returned this month incur no late charges. (It's worth a shot.)
Cordially,
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