HPL 2010 Project Countdown

Being a staff member, and more to the point, being the director allows me to occasionally peek at upcoming activities.  The HPL 2010 Project is no different.  Not only has it been fun to try out what you can sign up for yourselves, it has been a learning experience just as I'd hoped.  The funny thing is that of the things I've learned so far, TWO of them have had to do with Google.  I've been using Google services and tools for years and thought I knew how it all worked.  I won't spoil it by telling you what I learned though, because I'm smug enough to assume they are things you don't know either.  :-)

I believe that our HPL 2010 Project is only the second program to be created for and offered to the public in the United States.  The program is based on the "23 Things" concept created by librarian Helene Blowers several years ago to help introduce new Internet tools to library staff.  It is a great opportunity, not time-consuming, and I guarantee you will learn something.

I have been reading D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor.  It is an historical tour de force.  There's no other way to describe the book.  I am quite dismissive of labels for groups of people, generally;  you know, "Generation X" and the like.  However, this book will convince you that that generation truly is the "Greatest Generation".  The audacity and sheer magnitude of the invasion that would make or break the war effort for the Allies would be unbelievable if it one didn't know it had actually taken place.

OK - there are my plugs for the week.  I expect to see a hold list on the Beevor book and remember that the deadline to sign up for the HPL 2010 Project is January 30 - more than 265 people have signed up already!

Beans! (and stuff)

The new year began with some controversy here at HPL, but is shaping up to be a year of positives.  Our new coffee bar proprietor (info here and here) began selling some REALLY good coffee and tasty treats on January 4th.  The Bru Crue Coffee Bar is open a huge number of hours - practically the same as the library's hours and will be adding even more new treats in the coming months.  Stop by and try it for yourself.

Yet another great program - perhaps the best yet - from our fantastic technology trainer at HPL is gearing up to start in the next couple of weeks.  The HPL 2010 Project (pdf info here) will kick off January 30.  I can hardly wait for this program to start.  I get so far behind, especially when it comes to the Internet and the flood of new tools that appear seemingly every day.  This program will introduce participants to tools that they might otherwise never try.  Best of all, it is self-paced AND there are chances to win really cool prizes!  All you have to do is explore and complete a minimum of 10 out of the 20 activities presented...20 activities, 10 to finish...2010 - get it?  Clever, eh?  (wink, wink!)  Sign up here and catch up (or just learn about some new thing).

Do you fancy yourself an "animal" person?  I'll bet the children in your family or your neighborhood do.  If so, we have a great children's program lined up next week.  On January 19th at 6:30pm, Lorrie Beck from the Great Plains Nature Center will present a program entitled "Kansas Critters & Symbols".  This program is geared toward school-age children and their families.  Ms. Beck is a great presenter and the animals she brings are sure to be interesting.  I heard that she is bringing a barred salamander (the state amphibian) and a box turtle (the state reptile).

Women's Civic Center

BEWARE - Excessive wordiness ahead!  A lot of talk has surrounded the fate of the building that until recently stood just north of the library on Main St.  It was a building with a long history and a number of truly major problems.  I spent a good deal of time last week talking with people about why it had "suddenly" been torn down without "any attempts" to save it.  I would like to spend a little time here adding to what I sent in to the Hutchinson News' Western Front column, a letter that will hopefully appear soon.

The decision to demolish the building was originally made not in 2009 but in 2002 at the beginning of the 7-year odyssey to do something with the property that would benefit the city of Hutchinson and the library.  That sounds backwards from what happened, doesn't it?  Let me try to shed some light.

The Women's Civic Center was a fixture in Hutchinson early on.  First as a residence and then as a meeting place for numerous civic organizations from the late 1920's through the mid-1990's.  However, use of the building declined steadily over the years and in the last years of the 20th century, the building began to fall into disrepair.  When the property came to the ownership of the library early in the 2000's it had been essentially abandoned.  Despite its state, the library administration at the time did a great amount of research and study to see what benefit the building could provide to library patrons.  After looking at the options though, it was decided that the building could not be made into a space usable by the library for library services.

Wanting, I am sure, to avoid the option of demolishing the house, the library then tried to sell the building with the caveat that it be moved from the site.  Several parties explored the possibility, but none committed to purchase it.  The library then tried to give the building away to anyone who would move it - again without any takers.  The library administration had a difficult decision to make - renovate anyway or demolish.  In 2002, the library sought an estimate from a local architect regarding costs for renovating the Civic Center into a public-use space.  In 2002, the minimum estimate for renovation was $92,000 (about $110,000 in 2009 dollars).  Not only did the library lack that amount of money, it was far too much money to expend on a building that had no clear use designated for it (library-wise).  The remaining option was demolition.

After formal discussions following the procedures of the Hutchinson Landmark Commission in the early- to mid-2000's, the library administration was prepared to follow through with the difficult decision to demolish the building and create some green space near the front entrance.  But the story didn't end there.  A group of citizens asked the library to donate the building to the Hutchinson/Reno arts and Humanities Council (HRAH) and it did.  For a period of several years - from February 2005 until January of 2009 - HRAH attempted to raise funds to renovate the building.  They worked very hard, applying for restoration grants, holding awareness-raising events, fund-raisers, etc.  They even erected a sign that stood in the front yard for nearly 2 years.  But the State Historical Society didn't deem the building of adequate historical value to grant any money towards restoration, despite at least three attempts to get help.  In the end, the money was not to be found and the HRAH group had to move in another direction.

Finally, after the building returned to the library last January the current library administration had to come to terms with a difficult problem once again.  There were tens of thousands of dollars needed to simply shore up the failing foundation and front porch, let alone the tens of thousands more to return the building to usefulness.  It no longer had working plumbing, up-to-code bathroom facilities or acceptable public access to even the first floor.  So the decision was made for the second time to demolish the building. After advertising a period for reclamation of building materials from the Civic Center this fall, the contract for demolition was let.

No, we did not advertise the building as a give-away again.  There was no reason to assume this was a viable option.  Could we have tried again?  Of course.  But seven years worth of attempted sale, give away, and fund-raising said to us that while some might "wish" that something could be done, no one was able to actually do it.  Was this a faulty assumption?  Possibly.  There is always room to second guess.  More than one person has made it known that they would have invested their dollars "if they had only had the chance".  Would they have really done this?  Possibly.  Though the library and HRAH practically begged for that sort of interest for the past seven years without luck.

So the building is gone.  I am sure that for some its memory will fade.  I am sure that some will not let it go.  The library will not be letting it go.  The library is planning to restore the Rayl Reading Room, a part of the original 1949 section of the library.  Wood paneling salvaged from the Civic Center will be incorporated into this old / new space.  The room will fill the need for an oft-requested quiet study area and I think the paneling from the Civic Center will make it warm and inviting.

Holiday Grinchiness

Is that even a word?  Maybe it is the stress of the holiday season.  Maybe it is just me going through a time of seeing lots of negatives.  Lately, we at HPL have had a series of encounters of the negative variety.  Among them,  just last week we had to call our friends at the Hutchinson Police Department to deal with a disturbance in the building.  We have had a patron's automobile broken into while the patron was in using our services.  Now we have discovered some vandalism to the outside of the building.

So I wonder, is this a symptom of the times that will pass as the economy improves?  Or is this simply a lack of pride in ones community and lack of concern for others? 

As we move to the conclusion of 2009 though and look forward into 2010, I see lots of great things on the horizon for HPL.  We will start the year with a new coffee bar operation and kick off another One Book, One State program with our partner the Hutchinson/Reno Arts and Humanities Council.  In the Spring, we will be working with the Dillon Nature Center and the Rec Commission, participating in their program celebrating the outdoors.  Plus, the HPL 2010 Project will help usher in the new year with a better understanding of the online world and all the tools it has to offer.  Hmm...those will be fun!

Perhaps the key to staying upbeat is looking at the horizon while dealing as you go with the sometimes bumpy path that takes you there.  Stay safe, have fun and have Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas!

The Elusive Que and Some Publishing Madness

I read a few new things about ebooks and readers this past week that started me thinking once again about where this is all going.  I provided a link in this post about a ereader called the "Que".  I mentioned it because it has been designed to address one of the concerns about ebook readers, that is how easily they break.  It appears now that the Que might actually become available for purchase.  It appears Barnes and Noble will sell the Que along side its Nook product.  Meanwhile, the oft-rumored Apple tablet device, a gadget that so far no one has ever seen may really be coming - at an Apple-like price (potentially) of $1,000.  Apple is apparently pitching the product to publishers in an effort to create a content base.

Which brings me to the "publishing madness" portion of my missive today.  I read this article and think that perhaps the publishing industry has collectively taken leave of its senses.  How can they possibly think it is a good idea to delay by FOUR MONTHS the release of a new book in ebook format?  I suppose they really think that people will be so excited about some books that they will buy the print version first and the ebook version later.  What is actually going to happen is that the publishers will cut themselves out of a source of revenue.  The Amazon response quoted in that article is correct, the hype and publicity surge for a new book will be lost four months down the road and sales will be lost.  Another stated concern from the publishers is that piracy of the "e" format will reduce sales.  That is a possibility, but this strategy will certainly reduce ebook sales and I would wager actually increase the instances of piracy.  Sigh...

Projects Shaping Up

Starting off the New Year with some new activities at the library would be nice.  One "new" thing is actually a re-start of an old thing.  I am excited about and hopeful for a partnership between the library and our new coffee and snack vendor.  The Bru Crue Coffee Bar will open for business on January 4th, filling a void left by our last vendor.  The BC folks have a delicious line-up of products ready for sale and will be adding to their offerings as business grows.

Another long-standing issue has been the building just to the north of the library known as the Women's Civic Center.  For many years the building sat largely unused and neglected.  After the most recent effort to raise funds to restore the house by the Hutchinson Reno Arts and Humanities Council, the building was returned to the Library.  With estimates running into the multiple 100's of thousands of dollars to bring the building into a useful state as public space and no takers for moving the building because of its size, the Library has contracted to have it demolished.  We had an 8-week period for citizens interested in salvage to remove useful, re-usable items from the building.  So next, week there will likely be large machines at the corner of 10th and Main completing the task.

However, the Library salvaged some beautiful woodwork to use as part of a plan for a new "quiet" reading room.  Our plan is to re-create a space originally called the "Rayl Reading Room" in the old section of the library.  This will be an area for those people who need quiet for concentration and study.  A group of staff members came up with the plan in response to concerns expressed by several regular library users.  I think it is a great idea and I can't wait to get it started!

As you prepare for the crush of the holiday season, don't forget that the Library can be a great place to stop in for a moment of relaxation.  Pick up a new book, download an audiobook to listen to while shopping, or use our free WiFi. 

Don't forget!  Ask us about the HPL 2010 Project!

One of my favorites...

While Halloween can be lots of fun and Christmas can fill you with good cheer (or not, depending on your stress level), I find Thanksgiving to be one of my favorite holidays.  I really resent the way it gets passed over in favor of Christmas shopping though.  In the past, you could at least count on a nod, but commercially this year everyone seems so desperate even Halloween got buried in red-and-green merchandising.  OK, enough grousing.

November at HPL was filled with great and fun activities.  December is starting off the same way.  Once again, our friend, Dave McKane, is coming to Hutchinson and HPL and leading digital photography workshops.  The first is on December 3rd from 6:30-8:30 PM and the second is December 7th from 9:15-11:15am.  Both workshops will be held in the Library's Auditorium on the second floor.  Find more information here at his site.

If you are looking for a way to support the Children's Department AND get some shopping done, we will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair from December 6th through the 12th.  Profits from this activity will go towards new materials for the Children's collection.

Time for a teaser - looking ahead to early next year, I can't wait for The 2010 Project.  This program is "...a ten-week, self-directed technology exploration program starting in early February that you can work on from home or here at the library."  The goal is to complete the ten-week, self-paced course and learn about new technology.  There are some great incentives for completion as well.  This program has been used in libraries across the country but rarely, if ever, for library patrons.  HPL's version will have a program for staff AND a program for patrons.  Read about it here and sign up for information as it becomes available here.