12/21/08

The Cleveland Library, a free public library in Cleveland Township, acquired 15,000 donated books in four months, surpassing the growth rate of any North Carolina government funded library.  A local library advisor told Cleveland’s staff  it would take $525,000 to get to this point.  Its holdings are already 25% as large as the Clayton Library.  The library’s fast growth is attributed to its director’s willingness to accept donations from many diverse sources and take advantage of creative opportunities.  Because some of the donations have various marks or labels on their covers, or have lost their glossy book cover, the library is assuring its readers that all the words are still between the covers waiting for them to start reading.  The director was surprised, when he started receiving newly purchased books directly from Raleigh’s leading bookstores as well as a first edition Russian museum art book, identical to the one held in the rare book collection at UNC-Chapel Hill.    

Ben Franklin held up an ideal for libraries to be a free place, where the rich and poor could find and read the treasures in books at no cost.  From Pittsburgh came the ambitious sight of Andrew Carnegie, who helped spread the dream and build many of the nation’s libraries.  By December 2008, the great library system in Philadelphia announced it was closing 1 of every 5 libraries due to budget cuts and skeptics are saying that a library can no longer get started or be run without government funding and paid professional staff.  That defies history since Johnston’s libraries were started by women’s clubs in the communities without initial government financial support and it is believed that over 60% of our state’s libraries are headed by directors without their MLS degree.

Librarian Karen Stark has been patiently sorting and shelving the books, volunteers have been building new shelves, and residents are checking out their new finds in books and videos for 2-week loans.  Winter is the time of year that many people find comfort curling up with a good book in an easy chair in front of the fire.  Job hunters appreciate access to the library’s computers to fill out web-based job applications; some work on their college applications and look for scholarship money; recently laid off workers look at job retraining opportunities and Employment Security listings; residents take the GWF classes on how to use the computer and use the leading office software; the kids surf the Internet and play games; and others simply use the free Internet E-mail accounts.      

Mothers and tots come in and discover the coloring books on the sale rack and the first reading level, soft touch, and pop-up books in the lower room.  Shelf dividers identify the book categories for ease of use.  Copies of To Kill a Mockingbird are available to supplement the county’s grant funded reading program.  Other classics and school reading list books are usually available.  Dozens of cook books, including some older books that still used recipes calling for heavy amounts of butter and sugar, just arrived to support the holiday cooking frenzy.

Residents with a particular hobby or reading interest are invited to support and help stock a shelf supporting their interest.  Avid readers or those with library experience are invited to sort the incoming books, getting them organized for shelving.  Anyone who can build shelving is needed to build a set or more.  Our residents’ hand built shelves cost only 25% what the manufactured shelving costs.
  
Since the library, which is housed inside Basic Needs Ministry on Route 42, lacks space for book club meetings or author’s book signings, it is seeking a friendly location in the community for these events.

Readers’ are encouraged to let the library know what categories of books they want in the library and which authors.  Donations of specifically requested books will be promoted and money will be sought to begin purchasing additional books.  In response to reader requests, the library acquired a couple hundred mysteries and crime novels, but needs shelves built in order to get them displayed for checkout.

The staff is researching scanners and software and should be issuing new scanner compatible library cards by April and be looking for volunteers for scanning parties to build an electronic web-based catalog system.  Some experienced librarians and LAN administrators suggested the first year cost could run $150-500,000, with $20,000 annual operating costs, Cleveland expects to get a system up and running for under $10,000, with an annual operating cost of $1,500.

Basic Needs Ministry has been running the community clothing closet since 2003, food pantry since 2006, and now the community library.  The 2009 budget is expected to be $75,000.  Hundreds of community volunteers keep the budget so low and hundreds of thousands of community donations pushed the 6-year value of benefits rendered by Basic Needs over $15 million.

Additional board members for this public charity are sought to represent the diversity of the community.  

Financial contributions or book donations can be delivered to Cleveland Library, 5533 NC HWY 42 W D-96, Garner, or by mail to Cleveland Library, 1413 Kenbrook Drive, Garner, NC 27529-4447.  Volunteers open the facility Saturdays 9-6 or Monday evenings 6-9 p.m.  Charge card donations can be made at http://4042needs.org/library/. The telephone is listed as Basic Needs – 919-661-6565. 

It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could
be applied so productive of good boys and girls who have good within them, and ability and
ambition to develop it, as the founding of a public library. - Andrew Carnegie