Old Friends from the Disco Era

While going through the Board meeting minutes for 1976, I did find evidence that the Board had organized a Friends group for the library:

(August 16, 1976)
"Ms. Patterson and Mrs. Lomicka [the library Director] discussed various purposes of a Friends group. Ms. Lomicka is a member of both the Fayetteville and the Manlius Friends and discussed their differing purposes. Both groups have officers and charge minimal dues. Friends groups are excellent public relations forces to the community. However, the Board and staff must work together to get such a group off the ground. Mr. Ely moved the establishment of a Friends of the DeWitt Library group. Mr. Moyer 2nd the motion. Motion carried.

"Cards will be made up and placed at the desk for people who might be interested in becoming involved in a Friends group to indicate such interest. Board members involved in initiating this group will meet with Ms. Patterson Sept. 11 at 9 a.m. in the library. Members indicating interest in this project were Mr. Luchsinger, Mrs. Finck, Mrs. Miller and any others who can work it into their schedules."

Later, in the minutes for September 21, there was a brief summary: "Minutes of the committee working on forming a 'Friends' group were distributed and discussed. (copy attached to official minutes)." However, no copy is in our permanent files, and I was unable to find any more Friends group reports for the Board meeting minutes of 1977. It was over 20 years later before our Friends of DeWitt Community Library group was officially formed.

Friends of the DCL follow-up

A couple weeks ago, we told you the story of how the DCL Friends group got started. Current Friends President Daryl Gonchoroff recently let me borrow some of the archival material that has been passed on to her for inclusion in the Archives Blog. Click on the pictures below for full-size versions of the kick-off event photos, one of the first booksales held in Ryder Park, and a newsletter from 2002 when Nick Poulos was president.
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With a Little Help from Our Friends

Last weekend, the Friends of DeWitt Community Library held their second annual book sale. In a vacant storefront in Shoppingtown, current Friends President Daryl Gonchoroff and several Friends members and volunteers spent many days sorting and categorizing books, and setting up tables to make the old Dress Barn look like a neat, inviting little bookstore. They raised almost $2,000 for the library over 2 days.The book sale is just one part of what our dedicated Friends do for us, and it may seem as though their organization is as old as the DeWitt Library itself, but in fact it's only a decade old.

Back in the last year of the last century, when most people were busy partying like it was 1999, library Board of Trustees member Wendy Ressler was questioning why the DCL had no Friends group for promotion and fundraising. So in June, she presented her idea to the Board and they agreed to spend $35 on start-up costs for the Friends group. Wendy organized a few interested DCL enthusiasts, and the Board of Trustees minutes for September 1999 state: "A steering committee for the Friends group will be held on October 28 at 7:00 PM. The purpose of the meeting is to establish an organizational structure for the group, create By-Laws, and determine a focus for the group." Despite the fact that Syracuse was still cleaning up after a wicked windstorm had come ripping through the area that Labor Day, the Friends committee met in October and solidified the by-laws with their six start-up members.

When Wendy's term was up, Joanne Chamberlain took over as President, and after her Daryl Gonchoroff, who is the group's current President. The Friends has a Board of Directors who hold monthly meetings, and several members who pay dues and volunteer their time at the library. Over the last 10 years, the Friends have raised money through book sales, Friends Tribute Cards, and tote bags. With these funds, they have helped out the DCL by sponsoring programs (including some big-name authors), Summer Reading, and purchasing equipment. They also obtained extra space for the library in our old location, paying for a meeting room down the hall from the DCL, and in our new space we still have a Friends Room for public meetings. Every year, the friends sponsor an afternoon tea to help attract new members and educate the community about their organization, and they also march in the Jamesville Memorial Day Parade each year with library staff and volunteers.

They have always been generous and receptive to our requests for help, and we are always grateful to have a little (or a lot of) help from our Friends!

Click on the pictures below for full-size versions.

Our ties with the J-D school district

We've posted a couple times about our library as a Free Association library. In our most recent post, we mentioned that in the eighties the Board re-thought this plan, and recently we found some Board minutes from 1984 that show the beginnings of a campaign to make the DeWitt Community Library a school district library for the Jamesville-DeWitt schools. Basically, this would mean that our funding would come from referendum on the J-D school ballot once a year rather than leaving us free to go to taxpayers in our chartered area throughout the fiscal year. Each method has its pros and cons, and in '84 the Board made an unsuccessful push to try the school district method.

The DeWitt Library Board of Trustees circulated a fact sheet stating the reasons for the J-D school district to fund us in the amount of $7,500. The attached a chart of local support for libraries that listed Onondaga County suburban libraries' funding sources, the majority of which got some or all of their funding from their school districts. DeWitt Library was an exception, receiving $104,ooo in 1982 and $115,000 in 1983, entirely supplied by the Town of DeWitt. Some of the reasons for urging J-D school district voters' support were: "The Library is specifically chartered to serve the residents within the Jamesville-DeWitt School District; The Library is open four school evenings a week. . . . This approximates over 30 hours a week of public library time available to students when their school libraries are closed; Special collections to supplement school assignments are always available to students and teachers upon request;" and "Of the twenty member public libraries in the Onondaga County Public Library System, only four do not receive local support from their respective school districts (Dewitt, LaFayette, Marcellus and Solvay). Liverpool and Baldwinsville receive total support from their school districts. Neighboring libraries . . . . receive between 12% and 78% of their total support from their respective school districts."

In addition to the fact sheet, the Library sought to include Proposition #2 on the school district ballot, which stated "Shall the Board of Education of the Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District levy and collect a tax in the amount of $7,500 for the support of the DeWitt Community Library, pursuant to Section 259 of the Education Law?" Then, in the November 27 Board meeting minutes, under New Business, they state:

"Presentation to the School Board

"Don Ely has been notified that DCL will be on the school board agenda for 9:00, December 10. He will give Dr. Ambrosie a fact sheet and a copy of the page "Local Support" from the OCPL Annual Report to be sent out with the agenda to school board members. For the next week, Janet and the library staff will monitor how many school children are using our library facilities.

"Don expects our presentation to be brief and based on an appeal from one board to another, each of which is aware of the other's problems. He does not expect the school board to make a specific commitment but is sure they will ask for an indication of the amount of support we expect from them. All board members should attend this important meeting."

The DeWitt Community Library did not, of course, become a school district library, but remained a fully town-funded operation until this year. Starting in 2010, the Town of DeWitt will no longer fund the Library through grant money, but instead we will be fully funded by J-D School District taxpayers. J-D has always acted as our tax collector, but now residents of that district will also be able to vote on any budget increases we may propose in the future.

Click on the thumbnails below to see full-sized versions of the fact sheets related to Proposition #2.

Free Association pt. 2

A little while back, we posted an article about the library's decision to be Free Association rather than School District or Town Supported. I recently came across more evidence from a Board meeting about 20 years after the library was formed, in which they reconsidered this question. Here is part of the discussion from the September 20, 1983 meeting:

"Mrs. Schmuckler presented some thought provoking ideas for the future of the Library.

"1. Where the money is coming from
"2. Leadership and people to move us along to get the money
"3. Becoming a School District Library
"4. Expanding the Board to 14-16 people
"5. Look for people who have different connections
"6. Additional members to come from other organizations or groups to reach more people
"8. To form a committee to investigate procedures to become a School District Library
"Reopen and investigate our School District Budget"

These are some of the ongoing problems the Board was facing in the eighties, as many of the Board reports mention that money and materials were tight, and members of the organization worried about how to make the library more secure and investigate areas to obtain more funding. I didn't find anything else in the reports for that year, and the library has remained a Free Association library, but in the next post, I will explore further how money was secured in Prop #2 on the J-D ballot.

Beware: spooky substance!

Since we're approaching Halloween, I thought I'd do a fun post about a very mysterious circumstance that occurred in the mid-eighties. It was only talked about in two consecutive board meetings, and then never brought up again. Spooky!

May 17, 1983 --

"A week ago Friday, TJ's sent a black sulphurous substance to the library offices via a drain pipe that was being cleaned by Cross-Kinney Plumbing. The plumber stated this was an unsanitary condition. The county health department has a second report on record against TJ's."

June 21, 1983 --

"Continued problems with TJ's. The black 'sulphurous' substance continues to back up into the Library offices. Mr. Jack Orr of the Health Department has been notified for the third time, as yet no assistance."

No further mention was made of the mysterious substance, nor what TJ's was doing sending it via the drain pipe, but one thing is certain: precisely 23 and a half years later, the library moved to a completely different location in the mall. Coincidence? You decide.

Collection Development

Over the years, our collection at the DeWitt Community Library has certainly grown and changed, as have the needs of our patrons. From the date we opened our doors in 1962 until probably the mid-eighties, the focus of libraries was on research and reference services, as well as bestselling titles and newspapers. We had a collection of vinyl albums, newspaper archives on microfilm, and quite an extensive Reference collection. Your Librarian was the gateway to information if you had to write a report, research current events in the newspaper, make a family tree, or you wanted the latest book by your favorite author. The Reference Desk was most likely your first stop as you entered the library.

Things have certainly changed over the decades, and especially in the last 15 years, as the world has become much more fast-paced and technology oriented. Instead of vinyl, we have a CD collection -- but we have gone beyond that, as well. We now circulate DVDs and Blu-Rays, video games, and the library offers downloadable audiobooks that you can save on your iPod or MP3 player. As the world becomes more virtual, we still offer newspaper archives but now it's through a database subscription, along with genealogy research databases and encyclopedias for children and adults. The addition of so many online subscription materials has allowed us to order fewer costly Reference books in print, which also frees up shelf space for expanding our collection in more popular areas. Another big difference in the past couple years is that we are moving beyond strict Dewey Decimal order in our Adult Non-Fiction stacks; we now shelve our books by category first and then by Dewey number, making our shelving system much more browsing-friendly, like it is at your local bookstore. Your Librarian is still a helpful reference and a good starting point, but you can also help yourself more easily when you come into the library, or when you check out our website from home.

Click on the pictures below for full-size versions.