Dear Hubbardston Residents,
My name is Stephanie Young, Acting director of the Woods Memorial Library in Barre. In January 2007 our library was declared uncertified by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. At this time I was a full time library assistant and experienced the hardship. Our library remained open and functioning but many consequences followed.
Once certification is lost, any library in Massachusetts by law can decide to revoke borrowing privileges from any resident in Hubbardston. The address alone will cause these privileges to be taken away, even if the resident has an existing account. There are no loop-holes. Our patrons were turned away from libraries they had been using for years, not always politely.
We do not own the amount of books larger libraries own, but we can borrow them though a service called inter-library-loan. Every certified library shares the resources they have. If your certification was lost and your library closed, this service would cease and resources will become non-existent. Every resident will be forced to buy their own resources or suffer without. A library actually saves every resident hundreds of dollars on books, movie rental fees, music and much more.
We have a patron who is house-bound, she uses CWMARS online database to order books and then has them sent to Barre so her husband can pick them up. She cannot walk to browse books but can browse from home, online. These books come from other libraries statewide. When certification was lost she was unable to use this service. Disabled people and elderly need these services.
Please remember our library remained open and we were still able to help our patrons as much as we could manage; not every resource could be borrowed. Many surrounding libraries would not lend to Barre residents. Our library had to be the main resource for the town without exceptions. It was daunting enough to be uncertified. If Hubbardston chooses to close the library the town will lose its main resource and certification. Library directors and trustees will ask, "If the residents don't want to support their own library, why should we support them?" Many will make policies denying any borrowing privileges to Hubbardston residents limiting a vast network of knowledge and literature.
I implore you to support your library’s budget. Do not let your town lose its cultural center or its literary resources.
Stephanie Young, Acting Director
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3 comments:
So what can we do? I am a librarian at a college library in Worcester, so I almost never use the Hubbardston library. Besides donations of thousands of dollars, what does the library need to do? This is the first I am hearing of any of this...maybe more advertizement of the issues are in order? Maybe collaboration with the school to teach children, and more importantly, the parents, the importance of a public library would help? I have two children in the public schools, shouldn't I have heard about this before now? You have to be a bit more proactive. I don't want the library to close...what can I do?
Dee,
For Hubbardston's Library, the best thing we can do is to ensure residents get out and vote both at the Town Meeting on June 3 and again for Special election on June 10. Information regarding budget options is being presented at various informational meetings between now and then. Informed residents will then have to decide what is important to them. It is our hope they choose to make the library important by voting for an override budget.
The Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee have scheduled two additional info sessions on the FY09 Budget process. Tuesday, April 29th beginning at 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 10th beginning at 9 a.m. at the Hubbardston Center School. We hope to have childcare in place as well for both sessions. Please call Town Secretary 978-928-5735 or Email: hubselectboard@charterinternet.com
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