nj.com
March 12,2010

Orange officials have known for decades that the city’s public library, the oldest in Essex County, has lead paint on its walls. But a complaint that the paint is disintegrating moved the city to inspect the building and threaten the library with closure.

In a letter Wednesday, Orange health inspector Vincent DeFilippo said he received a call about lead paint on the building’s walls.

The letter, addressed to library executive director Doris Walker, said DeFilippo found areas of defective paint, and if they are not abated within two weeks, he may shut down the building.

“We’ve been serving the Orange community since the early 1900s, and we’re going to try and do everything in our power to make sure our building doesn’t shut down,” Walker said in an interview yesterday.

DeFilippo could not be reached for further details yesterday.

The Orange Public Library at 348 Main St., which was built in 1901 and is registered as a national historic site, probably was coated with lead paint during its initial construction or in renovations in the 1950s, Walker said.

Walker, who has been the library’s executive director for 15 years, knew there was lead paint on the walls, but was told it was safe unless the city performs construction on the building, releasing paint chips.

Yesterday, paint could be seen peeling in the building’s central dome and throughout the ceiling.

Walker said the library intends to comply with the directives in DeFilippo’s letter, but said she did not know specifics about the dangerous areas or how much it would cost to abate them.

The letter said abatement will require sealing the areas with nonlead-based materials.

Four years ago, the library developed a $1.5 million plan to refurbish the whole building, but has been unable to come up with all of the necessary funds, Walker said.

The building, which takes up half a block on Main Street, was constructed in classic Greek style by Stanford White, who also designed the Washington Square arch in New York City. The building features Ionic columns in the entrance and a 45-foot rotunda, which is next to a reference room lined with books and computers.

William Hathaway, a resident who works on the library’s computers every weekday, said he hopes the library gets the funding it needs.

“I don’t think the lead is anyone’s fault, because it’s an older building,” Hathaway said. “But I do think we should be raising money for the library. It is the jewel of our community.”

Lead paint was used to paint parts of the Orange Public Library years ago, and now the city is threatening to close the facility if the toxic material is not abated within two weeks.

The Orange Public Library was built in 1901 by Stanford White, who designed the Washington Square arch in New York, and is registered as a national historic site.

Halley Bondy is a reporter for the New Jersey Local News Service. She may be reached at (908)243-6211 or hbondy@njlns. com.

Abby Gorin, president of the Board of Trustees along with Township Committee member Jim Suell and Library Director Bill Swinson are meeting with Springfield officials on Thursday, March 11 to discuss a possible merger of the towns’ libraries and relocating them to the Saks site which is located in Springfield.

“We’re thinking that long term it would be a terrific use of the site,” Gorin said, explaining that if Springfield officials agreed with the plan it wouldn’t be put into place immediately. “It will be five years down the road,” he said.

The site is currently owned by the Dutch conglomerate Royal Ahold which after more than 12 years of court battles won the right to build a super Stop & Shop supermarket on the lot. But it’s been a few years since the court battles ended and no one has heard anything from Royal Ahold. If they still have plans to build there they would have to get approval from Millburn because the proposed use would generate more than 10% of the previous occupant’s business.

If the joint library venture is approved by both towns, Springfield would have to condemn the property, Gorin said.

Suell and Swinson previously met with Springfield’s mayor and library director who rejected the plan offhand, Gorin said. “We’d like to make our case before the trustees,” he added.

Gorin said he hoped to address Springfield officials’ concerns which mainly focused on accessibility. He said that there are many senior citizens who live in the garden apartments across from the Springfield library who walk to the library and students from Jonathan Dayton High School and the Springfield Middle School are also within walking distance.

Gorin will suggest that a jitney bus be provided to bus senior citizens to the Millburn Avenue site and some other busing arrangements be made for the students.
According to Gorin, if both towns agreed to the plan their existing library buildings could be put to other use.

In Millburn, he suggests the library building could be turned over to either the township or the board of education. “We believe it’s still a valuable building,” he added.

The library’s board of trustees voted 7-1 tonight to move the cramped, aging facility to a commercial building two miles across town.

The board is now expected so sign a 10-year lease for a 14,500-square-foot space within the one-story complex on Montrose Avenue — doubling the size of the current library.

“We will have a beautiful library we can be proud of,” board member Donna Egan said, “instead of a library that’s been outdated practically since it was built.”

The three dozen residents who attended tonight’s meeting appeared evenly divided on the issue.

Those against the plan say while the borough’s 46-year-old library is too small, it is located in the center of town on Plainfield Avenue — near shops, schools and the senior center. They said the new location is not only too far away, but it’s also near an industrial area, posing a danger to children.

“I think it’s a terrible location,” resident Jay Szovronek said.

Mayor Charles Butrico addressed the board at the beginning of the meeting, asking to postpone the vote for two months and form a committee to explore other options in that time.

Butrico presented two possible scenarios. One, hire a private developer to build a new library on the other side of borough hall. Or, two have the South Plainfield council fund a new library there, and the library board will pay back the debt.

“In the end, we’ll have a brand new library in a spot that benefits the community,” Butrico said. “Not one on the outskirts of an industrial area.”

But board members said the borough has already waited long enough for a new library.

In 2007, voters shot down a proposal to build a new $4 million library on the other side of borough hall — which would have raised taxes $30 a year for the average homeowner. The referendum, however, only drew a small number of residents to the polls.

“It really hurt the community,” Butrico said.

But library board president Eric Aronowitz said the new building won’t cost taxpayers. The board will pay for the lease with the borough’s yearly library appropriation — which was $1.3 million last year.

“When it’s done, the people will be very pleased,” board member Pat Massey said.

March 6, 2010

BY SANDRA GUY
Chicago Sun-Times Columnist
Yves Capitaine, a 16-year-old resident of South Chicago, can be found daily on YOUMedia's online community, posting his photography and freestyle poetry and delving into haiku battles with his sister.

"My sister [14-year-old Rachelle] and I have more than 100 comments on my poetry blog," Yves said. "It's fun."

For adults and children new to technology, the public library offers tutors known as CyberNavigators to show people how to connect the Web and the greater world. CyberNavigators are available at 42 public library locations. Check with your local branch for details.
"I get to know people who come from serious sides of the city whom I've never met," said Yves, a junior at Jones College Prep High School.

Yves even got into a heated virtual battle with his online peers to claim bragging rights at the top of the "leader board" listing the top YOUMedia content producers.

Think YOUMedia is the latest social media teen hangout?

It is, and it's housed on the main floor of the Harold Washington Public Library, 400 S. State St., in the Digital Space for Teens.

The Digital Space offers eight desktop computers, 96 laptops, two PlayStation 3's with a library of games, and musical keyboards and a recording studio so teenagers can create music, art and poetry, or jump online and talk with peers in the secure, password-protected YOUMedia forum.

Select book reviews by teens are also posted publicly at chipublib.org/forteens/teensbookre views/index.php.

The teens work with mentors like Erica Neal, who has watched the young people bloom creatively as they come to the Digital Space regularly.

"Our goal is to draw students in so that they're comfortable hanging out in the library, and then get them to engage with the workshops and technology in the space," Neal said. "We're seeing more and more students who were hanging out, participating in workshops and on the social network. It's been great to see their interests develop."

Students enrolled in workshops may check out digital still cameras or Flip high-definition video cameras for a week at a time to work on special projects.

The Digital Space for Teens is free to high school students ages 14-18 with a Chicago Public Library card, and to young people from the suburbs who get a reciprocal library-borrowing card at the Harold Washington Library. It is open from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Sundays, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

The idea for the Digital Space sprouted from Digital Youth Network, which itself started as a digital-divide research project at the University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute and from research and funding by the MacArthur Foundation. It is now a full-blown program housed at DePaul University's downtown campus.

"I saw the Digital Space for Teens when I was walking past the library, and I wanted to become a part of interacting with digital technology. I wanted to be a part of the family," said Yves, who has dreamed of becoming an engineer since he was 12 and saw a video screen of flying cars and trains at an engineering convention.

"If we can learn to manipulate magnets for the greater good, we can invent gasless technology," he said.

Chicago's efforts to attract teens are among a growing upsurge by libraries nationwide to attract tech-savvy young people, said Carrie Russell, director of the Program on Public Access to Information for the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy.

"Libraries are more actively trying to meet new users' needs rather than passively acting as a repository," Russell said.

Yet, libraries are still figuring out how best to achieve wide user access in the digital age, she said. For example, how do libraries "lend" a digital iTunes download?

More and more, libraries depend on licensing arrangements with vendors rather than owning a digital product outright, Russell said. "The vendor might require that a library pay an additional fee every time the library lends a licensed product, so it makes the idea of library lending much different" than in the past.

Yet, Russell believes that libraries will increasingly develop partnerships with the likes of Google and Yahoo in order to obtain access to downloadable books, music and other properties that readers increasingly demand.

The date for construction bids to be received for library expansion, rescheduled twice first for Feb. 11, and again for Feb. 24 have been received and reviewed by council members Monday night.

Mayor Thomas Fromm said that the council is ready to award the winning bid - and plan to do so in two weeks, at their next meeting on March 15.

In the meantime, Fromm said the council will do an administrative cleanup to fund the expansion, and the winning bid will be awarded in the next three weeks.

The administrative cleanup was dealt with at Monday's meeting as well. Council members amended an ordinance to make bids available for use by the library, which means that members exactly identified library expansion funding, and made money available to use for the project.

"We moved around some funds from other projects over to be used in the library project," said Fromm.

According to Fromm, $120,000 was moved, and will now be used to pay for library expansions that will be executed by the company who is awarded the winning bid.

Fromm said the construction will begin soon after the winning bid is announced.

"We expect, once it's awarded, to start action and see things happen," said Fromm. "Anywhere from two to three weeks after the award."

Fromm said that the entire project will consist of $1.1 million to complete, a significant portion of which will be paid for by the county because the Swedesboro facility is a branch of the Gloucester County Library System.

The library, already used by around 10,000 Swedesboro and Woolwich residents, has plans to add 3,000 square feet of space that they'll utilize for events, programs, community meetings, and additional space for resources and items.

After renovations, the top floor of the library will be used as the main floor, and the back wall will be taken down and replaced with a picture window, so that the new entranceway will be clearly visible from Kings Highway.

Expansion plans also included the implementation of an elevator and stairwell, which will give library members access to a lower level that will include new bathrooms, meeting rooms, a new HVAC system, a kitchen and an art exhibition area.

Handicapped-accessible exits will be built at the lower level, and will lead to the library parking lot.

The Scheide Fund has donated $500,000 to the Centennial Campaign for Endowment, and the Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust has awarded the library a $1 million challenge grant, to be matched on a one-to-one basis.

Philanthropists William and Judy Scheide, longtime supporters of arts and culture in the community, have been generous contributors to the library in the past. Previous gifts to the library from the couple include $500,000 for the construction of the library's current building, which opened in 2004.

The Scheide Library, privately owned and deposited in Princeton University's Firestone Library, is one of the world's premier collections of earliest European printing. The Scheides also own an important collection of rare books.

Regarding their recent contribution, the Scheides stressed the important role public libraries play, saying they "turn the entire community into book collectors. Anyone with a library card has access to wonderful collections, stories and information."

The Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust and other philanthropic organizations under the direction of Betty Wold Johnson have made gifts totaling $3 million to the library.

"We are proud to have received this second challenge grant from the Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust," said Leslie Burger, executive director of the library.

"Having a dollar-for-dollar challenge encourages others in the community to donate and is an endorsement of the significant role the library plays in this community," Burger said. "We are grateful for this generous gift and hope to be able to complete the challenge quickly."

The library will celebrate its 100th anniversary in October. Several centennial events have been planned throughout the year, including a gala fund raiser Oct. 9 and a birthday party Oct. 10.

The goal of the centennial campaign is to build a $10 million endowment for the library by the end of the year. The endowment will provide a sustainable source of income to supplement municipal support, library officials said, allowing the library to continue to offer innovative services to the community.

Lindsey Forden, the library's development director, said with the two major gifts given by the Scheides and the Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust, the library has raised roughly $8 million so far and is within about $2 million of reaching its goal.

"We're in the last leg of the campaign," Forden said. "We fully anticipate we will meet the goal through the generosity of donors ... It's a great thing for the community."

For more information about the campaign or centennial events, visit www.princetonlibrary.org.

Deptford Gloucester County residents seeking the services of charities and help agencies over the past five months are often new to the system, due to recent job loss after years of employment.

At the same time, service organizations in the county are often at a loss on how to cover all the needs of those who have fallen on hard times, leaving a gap in service, said Bernadette E. Blackstock, executive director of the People for People Foundation.

"Organizations can sometimes be so parochial," Blackstock said. "We all do our own little thing and then when we are hit with something that doesn't fit our norm, we are at a loss for what to do."
To help resolve that, Blackstock and the People for People Foundation organized a series of conferences called Hands Across the County so that service providers could learn about each other and find out ways other organizations can help.

The first conference was Wednesday at Adelphia Restaurant in Deptford.
Organizations set up tables and members talked to each other about their organizations and the services they provide. Conversations were sometimes interrupted as people walked up to ask for resources that their group needed, spawning a new thread of brainstorming.
Thomas Bowen of the Hispanic Family Center of Gloucester County told the assembled group that he had a shocking announcement: "We actually have money," he said.
The center has government funding for low-income heating and energy assistance programs, available for all families in need.

He suggested to the group that if they encounter people who need help with paying their energy bills, they send them to his organization.
"Rather than expending valuable time trying to take care of that, it can be done through a government program," Bowen said. "Then they can take care of other needs, like food and clothing."
Bowen said it was better utilization of the scarce resources.

Nancy Polhamus, a reference librarian with the Gloucester County Library, recommended that group use the library system as a free resource.

"This is your tax dollars at work," she said.

Often the library becomes a front line for people seeking resources, saying she has fielded questions such as how to find a battered women's shelter to how to put together a resume or use a word processing program after becoming recently unemployed.
"We're hoping by cooperating, we can do it more efficiently and get all the information we need," Polhamus said.

Jere Hoffner, executive director of the United Way of Gloucester County, said he hopes conferences like this can help make the process for applying for help a little easier.
"There has to be ways to streamline this, there has to be ways to make it efficient and make it effective for those seeking assistance," Hoffner said, especially for those who are new to the system and might get confused and frustrated by "all of the hoops they have to jump through."
Hoffner said there are ways in which agency activities can be coordinated and shorten the length of time it takes to access services.
"If you can get ahead of a problem, it tends to not get worse, instead of getting behind it," Hoffner said.
Reach Shruti Mathur Desai at (856) 317-7828 or smathur@camden.gannett.com

But the Hamilton Township Free Public Library is one of many facing the challenge and adapting, merging books and the Internet and creating a more modern space for today's teens. Librarian Kathleen Breitenbach is piloting that change at Hamilton.

"Prior to the library adding a specific teen librarian, service to teens and collection development in the teen department was handled by one of the reference librarians who had other responsibilities," said Breitenbach, recently hired and appointed head of Teen Services. "By having someone whose sole collection development duty is for the teen section, we can provide better service."

One of the more difficult tasks the library faces is attracting teenagers and maintaining their interest in the library. In addition to updating the library's collections, Breitenbach plans to organize programs and committees that will cater to teenagers' needs and reignite their interest in the library.

"We plan to offer a wide variety of programs, make our collections more current, do more outreach by visiting the schools and talking to teens where they are, and develop a teen advisory board," said Breitenbach. "Additionally, we are designing a space just for teens to hang out and study in the library."

The library's new initiative and outreach plan will provide teenagers with more programs and utilities that are relevant to their interests and needs. Teens visiting the library's home page are presented with a link to the Teen Review Blog, a place where they can read book reviews and explore titles that may be interesting to them.

Part of the outreach program extends to parents, introducing them to new technology as well.

"We can help others learn the emerging technologies and facilitate their use," said Breitenbach.

"We can also help guide parents through what kinds of online services their teens are using by providing information like MySpace for Parents. The library also is instrumental in helping students achieve technological literacy," she said.

Teenagers can have a say in the new program. Interested teens can join the Teen Board by contacting Breitenbach through a link on the website. As for new technological additions to the library, Breitenbach has a few ideas.

"We are experimenting with new formats for audiobooks (on MP3 CDs and Playaways), and we are purchasing new technology for the teen space," said Breitenbach.

Although the initiative is still in its early stages, Breitenbach is hopeful for the future and emphasizes the importance of an interest in public libraries.

"The library provides a community space, a place to study, to learn, and to have fun, and the best part is that it's all free," she said. "I really hope that we start seeing more teens in the library, utilizing our services and being involved in our community."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to extend expiring provisions of the anti-terror USA Patriot Act won final congressional approval on Thursday, with Democrats unable to add additional civil liberties protections.

On vote of 315-97, the House of Representatives approved the bill, a day after it cleared the Senate. It now heads to President Barack Obama to sign into law.

The Obama administration wanted to extend the measure because of provisions it says are important in tracking suspected terrorists, including roving wiretaps to track multiple communications devices. But some lawmakers wanted additional privacy measures to protect against abuses.

With the Patriot Act provisions set to expire on Sunday, lawmakers agreed to extend them for a year, and effectively put off a showdown on efforts to bolster safeguards.

Democrats had sought changes to protect law-abiding U.S. citizens, but Republicans managed to tie up their efforts, arguing that changes would undermine the tracking of suspected enemies of the United States.

Democratic Representative Jane Harman opposed the extension, citing abuses of the law during the administration of President George W. Bush.

"While I strongly support using the most robust tools possible to go after terrorists, Congress must revise and narrow -- not extend -- Bush era policies," Harman said.

The Patriot Act was quickly passed by Congress after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The extended provisions include: authority for "roving wiretaps" to track an individual's use of multiple communications devices; gaining access to certain personal and business records; and tracking so-called "lone wolf" suspects who are not members of an organized enemy group.

The provisions have been cited as necessary by lawmakers in the aftermath of the failed attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a U.S. commercial passenger jet and the shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas by a military psychiatrist who had been communicating with an anti-American cleric in Yemen.

(Reporting by Thomas Ferraro and Andy Sullivan; editing by David Alexander and Todd Eastham)

Mississippi’s budget cuts – whose adverse impact on K-12 schools, community colleges and universities is reported almost daily – also strikes at a less noticed but popular and heavily used state-funded source of information and knowledge: public libraries.

Gov. Haley Barbour’s budget cuts so far have sliced $600,000 off the statewide appropriation for the network of libraries serving every region – and people of all ages.

That $600,000 cut, while small compared to the millions cut from other agencies, is arguably more quickly damaging to libraries’ ability to serve users because operating budgets have little room for adjustment.

State budget impacts in library systems’ budgets vary – based on the amount funded by counties’ tax sources.

In Northeast Mississippi the percentage of total budgets provided by the state ranges from 35 percent in the Northeast system (Alcorn, Tippah, Prentiss and Tishomingo counties) to 14 percent in the Lee-Itawamba system.

Every library will experience qualitative impacts – either service employee reductions or cuts in budgets like collections, the funds used to buy new books, computers and other resources demanded by today’s library users.

As Emily LeCoz noted in her reporting in Sunday’s Journal, the cuts from the state couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Library usage is soaring. Administrators and staff are making the link between bound information and digital information, plus innovative services and programs to attract more users.

The Lee County Library in Tupelo is a good example of how cuts will affect services:

- The state cuts will take $20,000 out of the library’s budget of $1.3 million, and the impact will be felt in spending on the collections: $53,000 in a typical year, $35,000 this year.

- Library use increased from 239,905 visits in 2008 to 252,130 in 2009. Use so far in 2010 is on track to exceed the 21,000 per month average in 2009. Library director Jan Willis said he anticipates as many as 27,000 users per month during the summer, when children’s reading programs are at a peak.

Additional reductions in 2010 are expected, and even larger cuts are forecast for budget year 2011 – almost $1 million less in the proposed funding legislation making its way through the Legislature. (Follow the progress of proposed funding at http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/ for HB 1624.)

Libraries – all 50 systems – are as integral to our state’s intellectual infrastructure as universities and community colleges. Adequate funds must be a legislative priority.
Do you support restoring state funding?

WOODBURY — A $20,000 grant from the Public Service Enterprise Group Foundation to the United Way of Gloucester County has provided additional computers at the Woodbury Public Library and Woodbury High School Library to give students more access to the Homework Help New Jersey Web-based tutorial program.

The library's new computers will be powered up at 3 p.m. today for the students in the library's after-school program. The grant added four additional computers to the high school library to provide more access to the Web site.

Homework Help New Jersey provides real-time assistance for all grade levels and subjects, including college and adult education. Job seekers can access the site for assistance in writing a resume. The free service is accessible to anyone with a valid library card.

Librarians and those who love libraries may feel as if they're in an upside-down world these days.

Funding is down.

Way down.

And still tumbling.

All of this despite the fact that library use is up - way up - because now, more than ever, people, especially those who were damaged economically, emotionally and physically by the evil deeds on Wall Street, need them.

Thanks to libraries, those who cannot afford home computers can use the ones at their local libraries to do homework, write research papers or find jobs. All free of charge.

"Business is booming," said Gail Sweet, director of the Burlington County Library System.

The Friends of the Burlington County Library recently hosted a lunch reception for library workers and friends from across the county.

The meeting was designed as a brainstorming session.

Participants were asked to share their thoughts on raising money for projects and, perhaps more important, how to make everyone - from a kindergarten student visiting a library for the first time to a current CEO who owes much of his or her early success to library access - become an advocate for libraries.

The meeting was organized by Burlington County Library Friends president Charles Bruder, and a formal presentation was guided by headquarters librarian Joan C. Divor. It quickly became clear that libraries are in a crisis mode, especially small ones like Beverly, which temporarily closed its doors recently due to a lack of funding.

So what seems the best path for those seeking to save libraries in this higher-use/less-support era?

Janet Lowe of the Beverly Library suggested asking children to write letters to legislators seeking help, and Celeste Poin-sett of the Bordentown Library Association talked about going directly to residents by mailing a pledge form and requesting a donation.

Of course, libraries aren't alone in seeking public and official support during these dismal financial days.

Theater companies may have their seasons threatened, youth sports teams may have trouble paying fees, and dance troupes may find they don't have enough money for rehearsal space, let alone the funds to put on performances.

That shared pain is understandable, but libraries are something special.

Very special.

They level the playing field for those of all incomes and backgrounds and give users a jump-start on the road to success.

They truly offer something - from computers to classics, as one marketing slogan noted - for everyone, help users achieve their goals, and have the grand ability to change lives in major ways.

The goal of the meeting was to turn up the volume on the importance of libraries, and that came across loud and clear.

One can only hope our elected representatives are listening.

As Bruder said, "We must advocate for the survival and existence of libraries."

Amen.

Calkins Media film critic Lou Gaul is a trustee for the Friends of the Burlington County Library and a trustee for the Moorestown Free Library Association.

February 23, 2010 01:20 AM

The library will have its "soft opening" at the end of March or beginning of April, according to director Jinny Baeckler. A more formal dedication will take place in May to thank those who donated nearly $3 million toward the construction of the new 34,000-square-foot building.

The process has moved particularly slowly because of weather difficulties, Baeckler said. A shipment of new furniture was just delayed because of the recent snowstorm, and in the spring, the ground was "horrendously wet," slowing the process.

"We've had normal problems in the sense of weather primarily," she said.

The new facility will be almost entirely wireless, and will have many power outlets for visitors' computers. At the present facility, wires sometimes crisscross as patrons try to plug laptops into the few available outlets, she said.

"This building was really built pre the Internet boom," she said, referring to the current location.

New computers will be added to the new library, she said.

The first floor will be the "Main Street," Baeckler said. It will have a cafe, computers, newspapers and community rooms.

The second floor will be quieter, with a section set aside for research, rooms for study, areas for tutoring and a nonfiction section. There will also be a health education room, where visitors can do medical research in private.

The third floor will be for children, complete with a reading pit.

There will also be a tower room, several patios and outdoor reading areas.

"I'm very excited," Baeckler said. "Now we have the space to do what we really have been doing all along and doing it better."

The new library has been a long time coming. The original plan was to expand the current building, but that was problematic because it would cut into parking areas. When a spot opened in the town center, Baeckler said she was more than happy to be in a central location.

"We really would like to be in the middle of the community," she said, adding that collaboration has already begun with the surrounding businesses, cafes and stores.

The current building, located in the municipal complex, will be used by the recreation department.

The Plainsboro library will be one of the largest in the area, doubling the size of the current library, Baeckler said, but she hopes visitors will still feel at home in the new location.

"It's my hope that everybody will feel welcome," that everyone will be able to "find their corner," she said.

It's not the modern, welcoming place John Cohn wants for students at the County College of Morris. But some big changes are planned to brighten up and modernize the Sherman H. Masten Learning Resource Center that Cohn manages, plus other facilities on the Randolph campus.

It's part of a continuing capital effort to keep the school up to date and make it attractive to an increasing number of students seeking affordable education in a declining economy, say college officials.

"You have to constantly maintain the college," said CCM president Edward Yaw. "The more you put things off, the more they end up costing. And it is particularly important to upgrade as enrollment, and the need for education, is growing."

The college trustees last month approved $3 million in capital improvements, including a $1.5 million makeover of the Masten center, the college's library and media center. The board also approved $500,000 to renovate the landscape and horticulture technology building, $500,000 for ceiling and restroom renovations in the academic center and another $500,000 for parking lot repaving and new curbs.

The cost is expected to be split with the state, via Chapter 12 education dollars, if the capital work gets expected approval this week by the CCM Board of School Estimate, which includes two trustees and three county freeholders.

Meanwhile, the college, with nearly 8,000 full- and part-time students, is moving ahead with several other already approved facilities improvements:

"¢ Construction of a new $2.5 million horticulture/landscape building. A contract is expected to be awarded this month for a 6,000-square-foot building, to be attached to the existing structure, that will include classrooms, laboratories, offices, a conference room, rooftop garden and a small retail center.

"¢$2 million upgrade of nursing and biology laboratories in Cohen Hall. The project is 65 percent complete, with eight nursing and four biology/chemistry labs being renovated.

"¢ $750,000 renovation of the planetarium complex is scheduled for completion next month. New equipment to show the stars and skies is being installed, with new seats, carpeting and handicapped access being added.

Cohn, who has been at CCM since 1978, gave a tour of the Masten Center last week, pointing out some obvious deficiencies: old ceiling tiles and substandard lighting, utilitarian furniture dating to the center's 1968 opening, patches of old yellow carpet in floor areas that used to be under book stacks, cluttered and plainly visible storage under the main staircase.

"a kind of gloominess'

"It's too dark. There's a kind of gloominess here, a washed out feeling,'' said Cohn, as he toured the first floor of the 42,234-square-foot structure, which has a separate media/communications annex.

"This needs to be more modern and should be more of a destination for students, an open and welcoming place," he said.

Planned improvements include new carpeting and lighting, new and smaller bookshelves, more comfortable furniture and a reallocation of space to create areas that would be conducive to group study and collaboration. The "new" learning center also may have a coffee bar and the outside balcony may be reopened for student use, he said.

The plans were greeted enthusiastically by students at the center last week.

"Yeah, there's a lot that could be done here," said Selvete Boj of Randolph, as she studied with fellow student Khoa Dao of Mine Hill. "They need more computers, more relaxing chairs, a better environment."

Ivan Mendoza of Roxbury, treasurer of the CCM Student Government Association, said students want more spaces to allow them to more easily collaborate and work on projects.

"This place looks pretty old. There's a lot of wasted space," said Mendoza, as he stood amid the stacks and searched for a book. "The changes would be great, awesome."

Cohn said the improvements will be done in stages, starting with replacement of carpeting and book stacks, which he hopes will be done this year. However, that depends on when the cash-strapped state approves its portion of the funding, he said.

Lawrence Ragonese may be reached at (973) 539-7910 or lragonese@starledger.com

The board of aldermen scheduled to vote Tuesday night on a resolution that would make the deal official, but the vote was postponed until March 1 to iron out issues with the document.

A 2005 file photo of the Holmes Library in BoontonIf approved, the current owner, a board of representatives from local churches, will transfer the building’s deed at no charge, Mayor Cyril Wekilsky said. The library board, which is separate from the town’s governing body, would continue to run the library.

For about 116 years, the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been used as Boonton’s library and has been owned by the board of churches.

The board of churches was created in the early 1890s based on the will of deceased property owner James Holmes, who said he wanted the building to become a public library. The board, which represented the five churches in Boonton at that time, controlled library services for almost a hundred years, Boonton history librarian Joe Gasparro said.

In 1993, he said, the town formed a separate public board to take over the library and give the municipality more authority in its operation. The new library board now controls the services of Holmes Library, while the board of churches owns the building itself.

The separation of the building owner and the library, however, made it difficult to secure grant money to renovate the aging building, library director Sam Pharo said.

The library board, which is appointed by the mayor, hopes that by taking full control of the Holmes building, it can begin some badly needed renovation work, Pharo said. But in order to do that legally, the deed needs to be signed over to the town, he said.

The terms of the lease, such as its length and rent, are some of the details that held up the approval of Tuesday’s resolution. Pharo said a lease has to last for at least 20 years.

Once the deal is official, the library plans to focus on the rehabilitation work and to explore an expansion. The library currently occupies the three-story building’s ground and basement floors, while three apartments take up the rest of the structure.

What hasn’t been determined yet is the fate of the two apartment tenants still living in the building, Pharo said. They could be required to leave in order for the library to receive the grant funding.

“Having private citizens makes it tricky,” Pharo said. “I can’t say what’s going to happen.”