Date: Fri 12-Jul-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

library-annual-meeting-Stokes

Full Text:

Stacks Of Good News Reported At Library's Annual Meeting

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

It was a very good year. That was the phrase that echoed around the table

during the annual and regular monthly meetings of the Cyrenius Booth Library

Board Of Trustees last Tuesday night.

"Everything we've been working on for the past four years is coming to

fruition," said Library Director Janet Woycik. "We are looking forward to

having a wonderful building to service the people of Newtown. We definitely

want to thank everyone for their support - we couldn't have done it without

them."

In her report, Mrs Woycik recounted the highlights of the past year including

The November 15 referendum, which approved funds for the library addition, the

most successful book sale in the history of the annual event, a well-attended

summer concert, and recognition of efforts relating to the library expansion.

(In April Mrs Woycik received Outstanding Achievement Award from , and in May,

Kathy Geckle was awarded Trustee of the Year Award by the Connecticut Library

Association.)

Construction on the library addition began in May; the projected is expected

to be complete in May of 1997.

"In 1995-96 we had many groups meeting at the library including a writer's

group, Scrapbag Quilters, Flagpole Photographers, garden clubs, Women's Club,

and more," reported Mrs Woycik. "Unfortunately, our meeting room is [now]

closed for meetings during construction but will reopen next May."

Book acquisition was down 488 books from the previous year, but circulation

was up 3,436.

Reference Librarian Beryl Harrison reported that the number of requests for

information has more than doubled during the past year. "As both the number

and range of questions increase, we continue to update our materials and work

to have a balanced collection," she said.

"The Reference Room has been coordinating its resources and testing new CD-ROM

and on-line services in anticipation of establishing a LAN (Local Area

Network) when the library addition is completed in 1997," Mrs Harrison

reported. "Patrons will be able to access various indexes to magazines,

newspapers, business and health information as well as the enormous amount of

information on the World Wide Web from one computer terminal. There will be

several computer terminals throughout the library, with information available

on them tailored to the area in which they are located," Mrs Harrison said.

Highlights of the Children's Department included a report on the programs and

special events, as well as school programming offered to children in the

community. In November, a CD-ROM terminal was installed in the Children's

Department which allows children to view the CD-ROMS, World Book Multimedia

Encyclopedia, SIRS Discovere Magazine Index, The Way Things Work, and The

Magic School Bus.

Among other activities, Miss Swensen has recently established The Young Adult

Advisory Board comprised of middle school students who meet weekly to discuss

young adult books.

Officers Reelected

During the annual meeting, officers were elected for the 1996-97 term. The

current officers will continue their duties: President Gordon Williams, Vice

President Kathy Geckle, Secretary Pat Denlinger, Treasurer Chris Spiro. Three

trustees were reelected to serve until 1999: William Lavery, Margareta Kotch,

Karen Schultz. And Joanne Zang was elected as a trustee to fill the vacancy

left by longtime board member Ted Kreinik.

The Friends of the Library presented ideas that would generate money to

purchase furniture for the expanded facility. A Scrabble tournament, approved

by the board, will be scheduled; a proposed fundraiser involving small

businesses in the community is in the planning stages. Also, the Library Board

of Trustees will hold a black tie gala the night before the library addition

is opened.

This week, Mrs Woycik and Mrs Geckle spent hours reviewing the floor plan and

established furnishing priorities. Next week, they meet with the

representatives of computer companies.