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October 8, 2009

Harding trying to build a library with private funding

By Sarah Schillaci/For the Star-Ledger
October 07, 2009, 5:38PM
HARDING--Build a new library more than 10 times the size of the old one in the midst of a recession with zero impact on taxpayers?

That’s what Harding Township is trying to do.

Construction is continuing on the new Harding Library.
Granted, it’s not too hard to dwarf the old space, which comes in at 370 square feet and occupies the first floor of town hall.

But although the expansion project to move the library into its own building is more than halfway complete, supporters of the private library are struggling to raise the $6 million necessary to build the library and run it once it opens next year.

“We were moving along quite well, and then it slowed down dramatically about a year ago,” said Mary Ann Crutchlow, president of the executive board of the library. “A lot of people around here are based in Wall Street. It’s just made the last year far less productive in the campaign.”

So far, the board has raised $4.6 million for the project.

Unlike most libraries in New Jersey, the Harding library is an association library. While local governments are required by state law to fund libraries with a percentage of assessed property value, towns are not required to give private libraries any funding. In wealthy Harding, where the few municipally-funded programs keep the tax rate low, the library has been kept alive by donations and an annual contribution of $40,000 from the town.

“They like their independence, and that’s a good thing,” said Mayor Louis Lanzerotti.

Plans to expand the library from its current space were hatched about 10 years ago, when the county library mandated that every library in the county system needed to be providing computers for patrons, said Crutchlow.

“Of course, we had no room,” Crutchlow said.

After rejecting the idea of closing the library, the board decided to build a new library.

The 8,000-square-foot building is located on municipal property adjacent to town hall, and will provide spaces for children, young adults and adult patrons. The book collection is expected to double in the new library, which will have computers and periodicals for patrons, two things the current library lacks which are required by the county.

Last year, the township committee passed a resolution allowing the board to lease the land from the town for the next 40 years for $1 a year.

Construction began late last fall, and the new library is expected to open in the spring.
Now it just comes down to finding the money to open the doors.

The board and Friends of the Library began fundraising about five years ago, and are about 75 percent to their goal. But with less than a year to go, Crutchlow said the board has been scrambling to meet its goal by the time the library opens next year.

“We’re just approaching people individually, because we need the money yesterday,” Crutchlow said. “How successful we’ll be, you can’t predict.”

Posted by tumulty at October 8, 2009 10:01 AM

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