The Library on NECN & other media

Other media coverage has included articles in local papers including The Gardner News, as excerpted here from Friday, June 13:


Effects felt across town after override failure
By Daniel Kittredge - News Staff WriterPublished On Friday, June 13, 2008
HUBBARDSTON - ...

The override’s failure also has dire consequences for the Hubbardston Public Library, which Library Trustee Rhonda Hamer said is set to close June 28.

While the approved fiscal 2009 budget includes funds for building maintenance, funding for staff and supplies was contingent on the override. Ms. Hamer said the library has ceased its interlibrary loan program, and the trustees “are looking into the legal and financial possibilities of other options.”

The library building was given to the town as a gift from Clark University founder and Hubbardston native Jonas Clark 134 years ago to serve as a free and municipally-funded public library, and Ms. Hamer said much uncertainty exists regarding deed requirements and the ramifications of the facility’s closure.

Town counsel is currently working with the trustees to help answer such questions as to whether the deed requires the library be 100 percent town-funded, she said. It also remains unclear whether Mr. Clark’s estate or heirs have any interest in reacquiring the town-owned facility, she said, or would instead leave it to the town “in the spirit in which it was given, as a gift.”

Ms. Hamer said the “worst-case scenario” will involve the library operating as a free-standing facility independent of the regional network, although liability and staffing issues would need to be addressed before that occurs.

dkittredge@thegardnernews.com

Other articles have appeared in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and are easily found through their On the Common page dedicated to Hubbardston news and allows reader comments.

National media has taken an interest in this as well. See what the Library Journal has to say on it's web site.