Date: Fri 24-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Booth-Library-project

Full Text:

Book It! Library Grand Opening Is Sunday, November 23

BY DOROTHY EVANS

Originally, June 1997 was the hoped-for opening month.

Then it was August.

But last Friday, October 17, Cyrenius H. Booth Library Director Janet Woycik

said she was very happy, even "ecstatic," about finally being granted a

temporary certificate of occupancy by the town and the borough.

That meant she and her staff could set the library's Grand Opening Day for the

Sunday before Thanksgiving.

It also meant that Newtown residents could mark their calendars with indelible

ink pens, writing the following words: The Booth Library Open House will

definitely happen. It will be Sunday, November 23, from 1-5pm.

A ribbon cutting ceremony by First Selectman Bob Cascella will occur at 1 pm

and refreshments will be served. Tours through the library will be led by

board members upon request.

In case anyone is wondering, residents will be able to check out books while

the open house is going on.

"One way or another, we'll manage it," said Mrs Woycik, adding that a number

of volunteers have signed up to assist staff on that day, as well as to help

move books and furniture into the new spaces ahead of time, beginning as soon

as one more task is completed.

"They are changing the heads on the automatic sprinklers, which means the

entire system has to be drained and tested. When that's done and not before,

we'll move books and furniture in. We're ready to go," Mrs Woycik said.

A Long Haul

It has, indeed, been an extremely long haul for everyone concerned, not the

least of whom are Newtown residents who have been for nearly 16 months without

their beloved Booth Library.

Although they were able to use the Shelton House temporary library at

Fairfield Hills from January 1997 through August, and though Newtown residents

were always welcome to use the libraries of neighboring towns, it was "never

the same" as having access to their own familiar Cyrenius H. Booth Library at

25 Main Street as they had virtually non-stop since 1932, the year it was

built.

As the myriad final details on the punch list were signed off over the past

two months, the library's Board of Directors and town officials waited on a

weekly basis to obtain the certificate of occupancy.

It had to be signed by both the town and the borough's building officials

before staff, furniture or books could be moved in.

As September and October went by, volunteers and library staff used those

unplanned extra days to good advantage, however. They completed the cleaning

and repacking of all the books in the collection that had been stored for more

than a year at Fairfield Hills.