Keep Framingham Affordable
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| Town needs two libraries | Friday, November 5, 2004 |
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| Tom Gilchrist, Director of Libraries | Framingham Tab |
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I am writing to challenge Rob Haneisen's misleading and undocumented
assertions about Framingham's public library services in his most recent
Inside Scoop column (October 29, "Is all this really necessary").
Mr. Haneisen questions whether Framingham needs two libraries. For such a large and diverse community that is divided down the middle by a major shopping/office corridor, both the Main Library and the McAuliffe Branch are essential to provide materials and assistance to students; supply informational and other materials to time-strapped adults; and, most importantly, encourage in children from the earliest age a love of reading and books. Both buildings also play unique and critical roles as community centers for their respective neighborhoods. Mr. Haneisen contends that "Not many towns have two libraries, why should Framingham?" In fact, multi-library systems are the rule for larger communities. In Massachusetts, 18 of 23 communities with populations over 50,000 have branches, including such cash-strapped cities as Fall River and New Bedford as well as affluent Brookline and Newton. Recognizing the importance of branch libraries and the fact that the McAuliffe Library is the busiest branch in the state, last January the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners awarded Framingham a $1.65 million state library construction grant to help build a new branch library. Mr. Haneisen also argues that Framingham does not need to construct a new Christa McAuliffe Branch because the Main Library downtown is often "half empty" and easily able to accommodate the needs of the entire community. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Main Library is the third busiest library facility in the Commonwealth. Last year an average of over 6,000 people visited the adult section of the Main Library every week and over 2,700 stopped into the children's room. Over the past five years, the borrowing of materials by area residents has increased over 30 percent. Lines at the circulation desk often snake through the main floor, and parking spaces in our 130-car garage are at a premium. By any measure, the Main Library is an exceptionally busy facility serving both as a town-wide reference center and neighborhood library for the south side. Framingham has until May 2005 to meet the eligibility requirements for our state grant by purchasing a site for the new facility and allocating its share of construction costs. The Library Trustees recently obtained a new cost estimate, and at the earliest opportunity, we will be asking Town Meeting to provide funding for this long-overdue project. In addition, given the groundwork that has been completed and the availability of state funding, the Trustees recently voted to strongly recommend to other town officials that the new library, like the new senior center, be funded from the town's capital budget rather than being included in the large debt exclusion package that has been proposed. On behalf of the nearly 16,000 library card-holders living north of Route 9, I urge Framingham TAB and MetroWest Daily News readers to help maintain high quality library services by urging their Town Meeting members to pass our proposal when it comes before them. As noted in a front-page headline in the TAB last February, the $1.65 million in state funding for the new library makes it "A Can't Pass-Up Deal." |
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hjw2001@rcn.com
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