Building Expansion Committee Working on Problem

Recently the Building Expansion Committee of the Library Board--Ardith Orr (chair), Maryelen Brown, Bryan Bunch, Greg Galarza, David Kruger, and Steve MacNish--has been meeting to rethink our plans for expanding the physical facilities of the Library. While there have been many improvements in the past two or three years, ranging from completely redoing the 2nd floor Children's Room to relining the furnace, all of these have been directed to redoing the existing facilities. We have known since 2000 that our Library does not have enough space for books and other materials nor for all the meetings and events that could be held in the Library. The original building committee conducted studies of the needs, hired an architect, worked with the architect on expansion plans, and also paid for a study of the potential for financing building expansion. But most of that happened five years ago or more. More recently the focus has been on the fundraising committee, a different group with some overlap of members, rather than on the basic plan itself. The Building Committee has been meeting to review those original plans and see what changes need to be made today.

If you have ideas that you think might help the Building Committee, feel free to add them as comments to this blog. The comment section of the blog has been underutilized in the past. I promise that ideas posted as comments will reach the Building Committee or the fundraisers or both.

The conclusion of the Building Committee, however, was that we could not progress much farther in planning without knowing that we have access to considerably more funds than have been raised so far. So, although the Building Committee will continue to meet and hope to improve our plans, we are passing the ball back to the fundraising committee, which should at its January meeting start a new impetus toward both raising money and raising awareness. Anyone who is interested in being a part of this operation can email Bryan Bunch at bbunch@hvc.rr.com for details of when and where we are meeting. I will be happy to have you on the list.

In the meantime, don't forget the next fundraising activity that is already scheduled--diners at Chile's on January 12 who identify themselves as friends of the Pleasant Valley Free Library will have a percentage of their expenditure credited to the building fund. A similar fundraiser at Pizzaria Uno earlier this year was a lot of fun and raised some cash, so please plan to come out for this one.