Goshen Public Library & Historical Society | 203 Main St Goshen, NY 10924 | Phone: 845.294.6606 | Fax: 845.294.7158 | RCLS Member
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And now it’s November
By plnkh | November 13, 2007
They tell me that when you keep a blog you need to update it regularly. That’s not so easy to do when you pause for a breath and notice that suddenly it’s November! Since July, when we presented a conceptual drawing for the new building we have been working steadily towards presenting a referendum in March 2008. I keep hoping that our patrons will jump into the conversation and that will keep me on track.
In later July we learned that the governor had signed the bill enabling us to be funded through the Dormitory Authority. This state agency provides funding for construction at state colleges, not-for-profit health institutions, museums, libraries and schools. It enables us to spread the bond repayment over 30 years rather than 20, reducing the annual cost to the taxpayers. It also keeps the library project completely separate from the school district’s project so it will be clear to you on your school tax bill where your tax dollars are going.
Over the summer we completed the Environmental Assessment Form required for the project. The report is out for review, but there are no major areas of concern. We also retained a construction cost consultant, D.W. Wolfe to provide us a preliminary construction budget (the “hard” costs); and have been working with owner’s representative Nick Michailescu to develop the the “soft” costs. And we have been working throughout with Communication Services to develop materials which will make the proposed project clear to you.
Throughout it has been a learning experience for all of us. The first step wass to understand just how much we didn’t know; the second was to seek the expertise we lack; the third is to continually evaluate our understanding and our relationships with the experts we have hired.
Aside from all this building stuff, we have successfully concluded another summer reading club; we have added two new services - museum passes and disk cleaning; we have upgraded all of our public computers; we are developing a homework help program to pair students willing to volunteer their time to help other students succeed. Teen librarian Jenni Sweeney was a discussion leader at the regional Fall Into Books conference and I presented a program on library campaigns with Libby Post of Communication Services at the New York Library Association conference.
