Library, looking into future, sees need for more space

KENT — The Kent Memorial Library has developed and published a 39-page long-range plan which establishes priorities for the library during the next five years. One of those priorities: an expansion of the existing space.

According to Library Director Laura McLaughlin, the last plan was written in 2004.

“In order to move forward, we needed to update where we are and where we are going with much bigger issues,†McLaughlin said. “We have needed to reexamine where we are in the scheme of certain things. And we discovered that two big issues in the prior plan, space issues and financial needs, are still very big issues.â€

In fact, providing adequate space for library resources is the first goal in the plan.

To achieve this goal, McLaughlin said, the library is considering either expanding its current building, possibly expanding into the now-vacant former firehouse building or even moving to a different site altogether.

“No decisions have been made yet,†McLaughlin said. “It is crowded in our current building, especially in the children’s department where the books are harder to weed out.â€

McLaughlin said that to ‘weed’ books is to remove volumes that are no longer appropriate for or popular with readers.

“But it’s hard to weed children’s books because many of them are classics,†she said. “We also need more space for computers. Plus, we don’t have a meeting room in the library.â€

The second goal in the plan (which relates directly to the first goal), is to target and obtain funds and volunteer resources  to keep the library going into the future.This will be made more difficult if the Legislature approves a proposed $5.4-million cut in library aid, which is part of Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposed 2009-10 state budget.

“If it passes, it certainly would affect daily library operations,†McLaughlin said. “At this point, we don’t even know if there are going to be any grants for library construction. We haven’t made it to that stage yet.â€

Other goals in the plan include increased public relations and marketing efforts, reorganizing the library’s group of volunteers, streamlining the library’s adult fiction and nonfiction collections and adding books to appeal to “tweens.â€

The full plan is available at the library, and a summary  can be found online at kentmemoriallibrary.org.