The Bethlehem Public Library has been receiving a great deal of attention recently. The two areas of focus seem to be the First Amendment rights of speakers sponsored by groups using the library community rooms and a potential $36 million dollar renovation to the current Library building. While the two do not appear to be related, in my opinion, they are inextricably linked.
Over the last 30 or so years, the Library has been moving in the direction of creating a Town of Bethlehem Community Center. Public tax dollars have gone toward purchasing and demolishing two houses (the third is coming) on Borthwick Avenue, hiring architects to design a new library, hiring firms to determine public need and paying lawyers additional monies to purchase properties and investigate the possibility of divesting the Library from the Bethlehem Central School District. The money used is “extra” that was included in the yearly Library budget but was unused for that year. This extra has been saved and used to set the stage for the current project.
A brief look at the programs offered by the Library, whether from the Library staff or from an outside entity, show a diversity of offerings. However, the question I ask is: “How many of the programs offered MUST be offered by the library, especially with the diversity of programing offered by other venues in Town, many of which overlap those at the Library?”.
Viewed from that perspective, the answer is many fewer than are currently taking up space at the Library. However, in recent communications, the Library Director, Geoff Kirkpatrick, assured residents that the current programming is evidence of the need to renovate a 50 year old building to address how libraries are being used differently in the 21st century.
Sadly, the Library’s own needs assessment does not support this view. Residents’ responses indicated less interest in the programming currently being offered and more interest in a robust collection. This is further evidenced by the large number of interlibrary loan requests filled out by Library users. The Library does not currently have a collection that prevents extra money from being spent to borrow volumes from other libraries and Bethlehem is the largest borrower of books from the other Upper Hudson Library System libraries.
At a recent public meeting about the proposed Library renovation, the Board of Trustees unanimously agreed that a $36 million dollar cap on the project was reasonable, with $32 million coming from the bond to be voted on and $4 million coming from the Library’s “reserve”. However, Geoff Kirkpatrick, informed the Board that he wished to use old shelving units and was reluctant to buy new shelving because of the cost! The proposed new building will have, among other things, storage for musical instruments (why?), two kitchenettes for the staff, a community room that will be able to house 250+ people with a moveable wall to permit more than one event at a time (just like the gym in my former high school) and a dedicated children’s area that attaches to the community area so that children’s programs can move into that area as well. Almost sounds like daycare.
What links my two initial areas of focus is the use of the community rooms. The Library is potentially going to have to spend more money on lawsuits because of their desire to be a community center instead of just a library.
Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace is considering a suit against the library because of the restrictions put in place for their group after a contentious speaker was permitted to speak at the Library. While we have a tendency to look at the money as “the Library’s”, it is our tax money being used for an incident that did not have to occur at the Library at all and was permitted because of the self-admitted “naiveté” of the Board of Trustees and the Library Director.
As a retired science teacher with a number of graduate degrees, I know how important libraries with robust collections are to people in the community. I am happy that the current library proposal includes improvements like geothermal temperature control, sustainable lighting and many other important improvements. I am not happy that the library has removed three affordable houses from the market and tax rolls, intends to bring events to the library that can accommodate more than 250 people at one time and will increase my tax bill by at least $150.00 every year for the life of the bond. While Sarah Patterson, a member of the Board of Trustees, assured everyone that the increase is negligible, it increases my Library taxes by about 58%for the year. I imagine those community members on a fixed income, don’t consider any increase negligible, especially since the tax levied by the Library will certainly increase beyond the increase due to the bond.
Members of the public can attend Board of Trustee meetings or watch them on YouTube (see the Library website for dates). We will, apparently, have the opportunity to vote on this proposal, perhaps in October at a special election, which will also cost residents more money. Please be informed before casting your vote.
There is no doubt the Library could use some upgrades, but the outrageous price tag of $36 million dollars is not going to produce a library with a robust collection. Residents are being asked to pay for a Community Center through the Library’s taxing authority; a Community Center that falls far outside the Bethlehem Public Library Charter.
Anne Moore has been a resident of the Town of Bethlehem for the past 37 years and has resided at her current address near the Bethlehem Public Library since 1991. She is a 35-year veteran biology teacher who has taught in Orange County, Schenectady County and Saratoga County.
