Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Visioning Session-letter to the committee 4/27/17
Dear Master Plan Working Group,
I won’t be at the town visioning session this Thursday because I have dance rehearsal and frankly I've put in more than my share of hours in planning meetings that came to nothing. Twenty years of planning for a new library ended in a tie vote and a town so bitter that 5 years later some people are still too emotionally charged to discuss it. I am cautiously optimistic about the continued discussion and the progress of mediation, the group for civil communication and the visioning committee. I am glad to see the master plan will reflect the community's need to replace the little old library.
It is my hope that the town will build an energy efficient gathering place that serves our active community of library users, honors our past and is our legacy.
I want a library with a flush toilet. One with space to learn and grow. I imagine a new library as dear to us as the MN Spear; townspeople of all ages strolling or rolling along the tree lined alley from the center of town or up the hill, visiting on the welcoming front porch, birdwatching or shepherding toddlers along the cranberry lined nature trails, sitting with a book or laptop by the footbridge over the memorial rain garden or sipping tea with friends or a newspaper at the cherry table with the crystal ball feet in the local history room after a class or event. The library in my mind has a green roof and harkens to the past while looking to the future. I imagine it being built together, with Yankee ingenuity, sensibly, to last a long time.
The library offers equal access to education, cultural enrichment and inspiration.
The Library is a hospital for the soul, a candy store for the mind and the heart of the town. The library lifts us up and is a social equalizer that benefits the poorest the most. The tiny MN Spear is charming but inadequate and has served the town that didn't pay to build it for more than a century. It's time for the little library to grow up with the nourishing support of townspeople.
I believe if we pool our talents in a shared vision we will build a sensible and inspiring library for us and our children and grandchildren.
Thanks for your good work and for welcoming community input.
Karen
PS: In response to the alternative facts that there was not community involvement in the planning process here is a library timeline.
1995Library Director Linda Pryblo identifies need for more
space
1996 Building committee formed to investigate ways to increase space
2001 Plan is withdrawn at town meeting due to opposition from a small but vocal group. Committee decides to work on plan to increase community support
2004- Lot 032 gets town meeting approval and is purchased for municipal use
2005 Friends of the Library roundtable
2006 Friends of the Library Chocolate Party to brainstorm ideas for library future
2007 Long Range Plan reflects need for more space
2007 Shutesbury voters approve applying for a second Planning & Design Grant.
2007-2010The Library Trustees formed the Library Facility Needs Assessment Committee (LFNAC) consisting of Library Trustees, Library Director, representatives from town committees and residents.
The Committee reviewed the current building against building codes, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and recommended library space standards, evaluated the current facility’s ability to meet the goals of the library’s Long Range Plan, solicited opinions from residents. A survey was widely distributed soliciting opinions. The committee identified pockets within the Shutesbury community such as the elementary school, Shutesbury Athletic Club, Lake Wyola and Sirius community, and reached out via phone, in person, at every town event, held forums at the town hall, elementary school and Sirius community. The committee reviewed the work of the 1995 library building committee and visited newly constructed or expanded libraries including neighboring Wendell, New Salem, and Leverett and shared its findings in powerpoint shown at town meeting and other events.
With an overwhelming 89% approval from town meeting in 2010, the committee submitted and was awarded a grant to build a new library.
2011 Two thirds majority at town meeting approved
Ballot vote was a tie and after vigorous fundraising failed when a large pledge was withdrawn, the grant was forfeited to another town
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Would Jesus have voted for the new library? A Sermon by Reverend Richard F. Jones
WOULD JESUS HAVE VOTED FOR THE LIBRARY? 20 November 2005
I had to meet with two families about upcoming baptisms Monday night, so I was late for town meeting. It was a little after nine o’clock when I parked my car on Green Road and walked to the high school. As I arrived, other people were leaving, and they didn’t look happy. I saw someone I knew and asked her what had happened. She was crying. “They voted down the library,” she said, and added, “I can’t believe I live in a town with people like this.”
Former town moderator Clyde Wheeler arrived late, too, and he and I compared notes near the rear doors of the high school auditorium. We guessed that the proposals to buy the Taggert land and the Smith land would be voted down as well, and we were right. The town meeting was clearly of a mind to vote “No.”
Parishioner and Bolton Common editor Lynda King and I traded emails on Tuesday, trying to figure out what had happened in town meeting and why and what it implied. On the surface, one might be tempted to say it was a battle between the haves and the have nots, between those who can afford to pay several hundred dollars more in property taxes each year and those who cannot. One might also be tempted to say it was a battle between “old Bolton” and “new Bolton,” between the town as some have known it and the town as some want it to be. Lynda and I agreed that “it ain’t necessarily so.” Some haves did not vote for the library, and some have-nots did. Some people who have been here forever voted for the library, and some people who moved here yesterday and may leave tomorrow voted against it. I even think the “vision thing” had little to do with it. Most of the people I talked with who voted against the library agreed that our present library is insufficient.
I have said that this church is slightly ahead of the town in confronting the challenges presented by change. We had our major conflict a decade ago. The town is due for one soon. The church dealt with the necessity of having to hire a staff person to do some of the work that had always been handled by volunteers two years before the town created the position of town administrator. And the church had a debate similar to that regarding the library a year- and-a- half ago. Our debate was about a new organ.
Like the current library, our pipe organ is insufficient to meet the current needs of the church and even if it is not replaced needs major work. The church had received a proposal for a new organ that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Sound familiar? The proposed organ was magnificent, designed visually to fit in with our classic sanctuary but yet having resources far beyond those of many churches our size. Sound familiar? A group of committed people supported the project, and partial funding had been secured. Sound familiar? But when the church had a special meeting to consider the proposal, it was not approved, even though most at the meeting agreed that we do need a new organ. Sound familiar? And the comments that were made by some in attendance at the church meeting were exactly the same as some of the comments I heard regarding the library. “We have other priorities that need to be addressed.” “It’s too big.” “It’s more than we’ll ever need.” “It’s more money than we’ve ever spent.”
Isn’t it nice to know that our church is ahead of the curve? Perhaps I should run for selectman. NO, THANK YOU!
I have heard something in the current debate about the library that I have also heard here, in conversations about our church. One thing keeps coming up here again and again --- the yearning for community, the desire the create community. In the Letters to the Editor in the BOLTON COMMON and in the speeches at town meeting regarding the library, this word, “community,” keeps coming up again and again.
One would be forgiven for thinking that we were not considering building an addition to the library as much as we were considering building a community center, a place where people could meet, a new meetinghouse, if you will.
And I will admit to feeling a bit put out. One letter writer referred to the library as our only community building. Another said that the library was one of only three public places where people in town could meet one another, aside from our schools. Our church was not on that letter writer’s list, and neither were Trinity or St. Francis Xavier. I will not speak for the other churches, but this is very much a public place, a place where people in town meet one another. The library holds many of its events here. The Conservation Trust has its annual meeting here. The Bolton Historical Society has held lectures here. The town’s long-range planning committee has had public forums here. The Boy Scouts the Cub Scouts and the 4H meet here. The Florence Sawyer School has its eighth-grade dance here. The new postmaster of Bolton had his installation ceremony here. Meetings too large to be accommodated in the Town Hall but not large enough for a school auditorium have been held here. Hundreds attend the Halloween Party we provide for the town’s children. In two weeks, we will welcome the town to our annual tree-lighting. This is very much a public place, a place where people in town meet one another. You may not know this, but that’s why Davis Hall was built, not merely to host coffee hours after worship. It was built by both the church and the community to be a gathering place for the entire community, and it is.
What’s interesting to me is that as far as some members of our community are concerned, we are off the radar. What’s interesting to me is that as far as some members of our community are
concerned, we need a new place to meet, a place that is not tied-in to most of the past incarnations of this town nor to its places of worship.
I believe that the library project is not just about building an addition on the library or even about what sort of community we will be or about how much money we are willing to spend. It is about the longing of people in this rapidly-changing town to be a part of something substantial and enduring that connects them to each other in meaningful ways. And it is about the insufficiency of all the old institutions and networks to do this work.
Isn’t this the conversation we are having here, in these halls, too?
So, would Jesus have voted for the library?
I don’t know. But I do know that he would have told us that we need to look at each other, that we need to see each other. That, for him, is what it is all about.
In a sermon about the Gospel lesson I read to you this morning, Barbara Brown Taylor writes “Say that Jesus is present in every single person whose path crosses ours....the only way to tell if they are really Jesus’ eyes is to look into them, to risk that moment of recognition that may break your heart, or change your mind, or make you mad, or make you amend your life. Whatever effect it has on you, that seems to be the one thing the sheep know how to do that the goats have never tried: to look, to see, to seek Christ...I am sure Matthew would not agree with me, but if you ask me, that is enough to start with. The food, the drink, the welcome, the visit - -- all those things will follow in their own good time. They are necessary for life; they are not optional, but by themselves, they are just quarters in a cup. Charity is no substitute for kinship. We are not called to be philanthropists or social workers, but brothers and sisters. We are called into relationship, even when that relationship is unlikely, momentary... We are called to look at each other and seek Christ, who promises to be there when our eyes meet, and in that glance to teach us something we need to know.”
Haves and have-nots, we are called to look at each other. Old Bolton and new Bolton, we are called to look at each other. Pragmatists and visionaries, we are called to look at each other. Penny-pinchers and spendthrifts, we are called to look at each other. Senior citizens and thirty-somethings, we are called to look at each other. Advisory Committee and Friends of the Library, we are called to look at each other. First Parish and Trinity and St. Francis Xavier and those who don’t even know who we are and don’t care, we are called to look at each other. Gay and straight, we are called to look at each other. Democrats and Republicans, we are called to look at each other. Clueless husbands and desperate housewives, we are called to look at each other. Buff or bulging, we are called to look at each other. Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Christian, we are called to look at each other. Fox Run and Bolton Woods Way, we are called to look at each other. Back of the church and front of the church, we are called to look at each other.
We are called to look at each other, to really see one another, and in that glance, we will learn something we need to know, like how to serve one another, like how to build real community, community that transcends our differences, and transcends any structure that could be built to contain it or to try to create it.
If we want to build community, we have to be community. And it starts with a look.
This is one of the few public places in this town where we will hear that suggestion. I pray, as I always have, that we will act on it. Let us be ahead of the curve in this way, too. Let us show our town how to be community and how to build community. It starts with a look.
I had to meet with two families about upcoming baptisms Monday night, so I was late for town meeting. It was a little after nine o’clock when I parked my car on Green Road and walked to the high school. As I arrived, other people were leaving, and they didn’t look happy. I saw someone I knew and asked her what had happened. She was crying. “They voted down the library,” she said, and added, “I can’t believe I live in a town with people like this.”
Former town moderator Clyde Wheeler arrived late, too, and he and I compared notes near the rear doors of the high school auditorium. We guessed that the proposals to buy the Taggert land and the Smith land would be voted down as well, and we were right. The town meeting was clearly of a mind to vote “No.”
Parishioner and Bolton Common editor Lynda King and I traded emails on Tuesday, trying to figure out what had happened in town meeting and why and what it implied. On the surface, one might be tempted to say it was a battle between the haves and the have nots, between those who can afford to pay several hundred dollars more in property taxes each year and those who cannot. One might also be tempted to say it was a battle between “old Bolton” and “new Bolton,” between the town as some have known it and the town as some want it to be. Lynda and I agreed that “it ain’t necessarily so.” Some haves did not vote for the library, and some have-nots did. Some people who have been here forever voted for the library, and some people who moved here yesterday and may leave tomorrow voted against it. I even think the “vision thing” had little to do with it. Most of the people I talked with who voted against the library agreed that our present library is insufficient.
I have said that this church is slightly ahead of the town in confronting the challenges presented by change. We had our major conflict a decade ago. The town is due for one soon. The church dealt with the necessity of having to hire a staff person to do some of the work that had always been handled by volunteers two years before the town created the position of town administrator. And the church had a debate similar to that regarding the library a year- and-a- half ago. Our debate was about a new organ.
Like the current library, our pipe organ is insufficient to meet the current needs of the church and even if it is not replaced needs major work. The church had received a proposal for a new organ that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Sound familiar? The proposed organ was magnificent, designed visually to fit in with our classic sanctuary but yet having resources far beyond those of many churches our size. Sound familiar? A group of committed people supported the project, and partial funding had been secured. Sound familiar? But when the church had a special meeting to consider the proposal, it was not approved, even though most at the meeting agreed that we do need a new organ. Sound familiar? And the comments that were made by some in attendance at the church meeting were exactly the same as some of the comments I heard regarding the library. “We have other priorities that need to be addressed.” “It’s too big.” “It’s more than we’ll ever need.” “It’s more money than we’ve ever spent.”
Isn’t it nice to know that our church is ahead of the curve? Perhaps I should run for selectman. NO, THANK YOU!
I have heard something in the current debate about the library that I have also heard here, in conversations about our church. One thing keeps coming up here again and again --- the yearning for community, the desire the create community. In the Letters to the Editor in the BOLTON COMMON and in the speeches at town meeting regarding the library, this word, “community,” keeps coming up again and again.
One would be forgiven for thinking that we were not considering building an addition to the library as much as we were considering building a community center, a place where people could meet, a new meetinghouse, if you will.
And I will admit to feeling a bit put out. One letter writer referred to the library as our only community building. Another said that the library was one of only three public places where people in town could meet one another, aside from our schools. Our church was not on that letter writer’s list, and neither were Trinity or St. Francis Xavier. I will not speak for the other churches, but this is very much a public place, a place where people in town meet one another. The library holds many of its events here. The Conservation Trust has its annual meeting here. The Bolton Historical Society has held lectures here. The town’s long-range planning committee has had public forums here. The Boy Scouts the Cub Scouts and the 4H meet here. The Florence Sawyer School has its eighth-grade dance here. The new postmaster of Bolton had his installation ceremony here. Meetings too large to be accommodated in the Town Hall but not large enough for a school auditorium have been held here. Hundreds attend the Halloween Party we provide for the town’s children. In two weeks, we will welcome the town to our annual tree-lighting. This is very much a public place, a place where people in town meet one another. You may not know this, but that’s why Davis Hall was built, not merely to host coffee hours after worship. It was built by both the church and the community to be a gathering place for the entire community, and it is.
What’s interesting to me is that as far as some members of our community are concerned, we are off the radar. What’s interesting to me is that as far as some members of our community are
concerned, we need a new place to meet, a place that is not tied-in to most of the past incarnations of this town nor to its places of worship.
I believe that the library project is not just about building an addition on the library or even about what sort of community we will be or about how much money we are willing to spend. It is about the longing of people in this rapidly-changing town to be a part of something substantial and enduring that connects them to each other in meaningful ways. And it is about the insufficiency of all the old institutions and networks to do this work.
Isn’t this the conversation we are having here, in these halls, too?
So, would Jesus have voted for the library?
I don’t know. But I do know that he would have told us that we need to look at each other, that we need to see each other. That, for him, is what it is all about.
In a sermon about the Gospel lesson I read to you this morning, Barbara Brown Taylor writes “Say that Jesus is present in every single person whose path crosses ours....the only way to tell if they are really Jesus’ eyes is to look into them, to risk that moment of recognition that may break your heart, or change your mind, or make you mad, or make you amend your life. Whatever effect it has on you, that seems to be the one thing the sheep know how to do that the goats have never tried: to look, to see, to seek Christ...I am sure Matthew would not agree with me, but if you ask me, that is enough to start with. The food, the drink, the welcome, the visit - -- all those things will follow in their own good time. They are necessary for life; they are not optional, but by themselves, they are just quarters in a cup. Charity is no substitute for kinship. We are not called to be philanthropists or social workers, but brothers and sisters. We are called into relationship, even when that relationship is unlikely, momentary... We are called to look at each other and seek Christ, who promises to be there when our eyes meet, and in that glance to teach us something we need to know.”
Haves and have-nots, we are called to look at each other. Old Bolton and new Bolton, we are called to look at each other. Pragmatists and visionaries, we are called to look at each other. Penny-pinchers and spendthrifts, we are called to look at each other. Senior citizens and thirty-somethings, we are called to look at each other. Advisory Committee and Friends of the Library, we are called to look at each other. First Parish and Trinity and St. Francis Xavier and those who don’t even know who we are and don’t care, we are called to look at each other. Gay and straight, we are called to look at each other. Democrats and Republicans, we are called to look at each other. Clueless husbands and desperate housewives, we are called to look at each other. Buff or bulging, we are called to look at each other. Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Christian, we are called to look at each other. Fox Run and Bolton Woods Way, we are called to look at each other. Back of the church and front of the church, we are called to look at each other.
We are called to look at each other, to really see one another, and in that glance, we will learn something we need to know, like how to serve one another, like how to build real community, community that transcends our differences, and transcends any structure that could be built to contain it or to try to create it.
If we want to build community, we have to be community. And it starts with a look.
This is one of the few public places in this town where we will hear that suggestion. I pray, as I always have, that we will act on it. Let us be ahead of the curve in this way, too. Let us show our town how to be community and how to build community. It starts with a look.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
New Shutesbury Library in my mind
"Barns and agricultural buildings help tell the Massachusetts story over the last several hundred years. From carriage barns in city or town centers, tobacco barns in the Connecticut River valley, cranberry screen houses on the Cape, to dairy barns across the state, they help us read the landscape and connect us to the life and work of our communities through the generations. Most barns, especially those of timber frame construction, are well-built and have open floor plans that make them useful today for farming or for a wide variety of new uses. Yet, barns are disappearing at a rapid rate from the landscape. With some planning, patience, and creativity, older and historic barns can continue to serve their original function or be put back to use."http://preservationmass.org/programs/mass-barns/
Driving through the farmlands of Hadley one late afternoon in August as the sun was blazing through the open slats of a tobacco barn I was reminded how the light of knowledge lights up a library and the people within. For a split second I imagined a library that captured the essence of this icon of local ingenuity and industry and was reminded of an article I read in 2010 during the design phase of planning for the new library.
More important to me than what it looked like, was being able to dream of a new library again. After it was burned and worse, neglected, at the time of Caesar and Christ wars. It was rebuilt in 2002. Started in a jelljar cupboard in 1811, shutesbury's first library
I want a library with a flush toilet: a place to read a newspaper, to learn and be inspired, catch up with neighbors on the welcoming porch. I imagine children playing, families on bikes arriving safely along the tree lined main street alley, crossing the bridge over the rain garden strolling through the memorial garden enjoying nature along the cranberry strewn trails. The library in my mind is a model of sustainability and cooperation, built together in harmony with the natural world, a community center that brings us together and lifts us up.
I am done with meetings in the cold, damp basement of town hall and won't be on the committee next time. but if will alone can build a library then I will one day be sitting at the maple table with the crystal ball feet in the sunny window of the local history room. everything legal and mostly moral to see that the new Shutesbury library comes to fruition in my lifetime.
Driving through the farmlands of Hadley one late afternoon in August as the sun was blazing through the open slats of a tobacco barn I was reminded how the light of knowledge lights up a library and the people within. For a split second I imagined a library that captured the essence of this icon of local ingenuity and industry and was reminded of an article I read in 2010 during the design phase of planning for the new library.
More important to me than what it looked like, was being able to dream of a new library again. After it was burned and worse, neglected, at the time of Caesar and Christ wars. It was rebuilt in 2002. Started in a jelljar cupboard in 1811, shutesbury's first library
I want a library with a flush toilet: a place to read a newspaper, to learn and be inspired, catch up with neighbors on the welcoming porch. I imagine children playing, families on bikes arriving safely along the tree lined main street alley, crossing the bridge over the rain garden strolling through the memorial garden enjoying nature along the cranberry strewn trails. The library in my mind is a model of sustainability and cooperation, built together in harmony with the natural world, a community center that brings us together and lifts us up.
I am done with meetings in the cold, damp basement of town hall and won't be on the committee next time. but if will alone can build a library then I will one day be sitting at the maple table with the crystal ball feet in the sunny window of the local history room. everything legal and mostly moral to see that the new Shutesbury library comes to fruition in my lifetime.
“Shutesbury residents have indicated that they like the friendly, welcoming atmosphere at the current library facility. As we move toward the future, LFNAC members recommend that the library maintains its small town atmosphere, while serving our growing population of active library users with a high quality library. LFNAC members continue to encourage suggestions from residents. Some strongly expressed ideas suggested the library should:"Patrons would prefer a larger overall space that could include community rooms that could be used for classes or groups (for example, a knitting group, the library book group, yoga classes, etc.) Any expansion of the library must match the unique character of Shutesbury, respect the town and library history, reflect the needs of the residents, and be mindful of the budgetary limitations of a small town." (library building program 2009)
a. Be located in the town center (85.7% said very or somewhat important)b.Serve as a community center, strengthening community in Shutesbury.c. Offer more activities at the library.d.Be visible to the community.e. Be an architectural enhancement to the town.f. Be built with planning for the future in mind and that it last a long time.g.Honor the town’ s history.h.Reflect current thinking about ecology – i.e. have a southern exposure, be a “green” building, possibly include photovoltaic cells for electricity, and/or use solar or geothermal heating.i. Reflect the cultures represented in the community.j. Be a place that provides educational opportunities for the community.k.Include a café or community center where residents can gather and socialize.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
LFNAC meeting July 23, 2007
http://www.shutesbury.org/sites/default/files/offices_committees/lfnac/Minutes%207_23_07LFNAC.pdf
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Library Quotes
I love the
Shutesbury Library we have, but it was built over 100 years ago for a town of
400. It’s time for a new one, and this vote is our best chance to make that
happen.
Julie Stepanek
There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration. ~Andrew Carnegie
Constructive participation and the development of democracy depend on satisfactory education as well as on free and unlimited access to knowledge, thought, culture and information. The public library, the local gateway to knowledge, provides a basic condition for lifelong learning, independent decision-making and cultural development of the individual and social goups. This Manifesto proclaims UNESCO's belief in the public library as a living force for education, culture and information, and as an essential agent for the fostering of peace and spiritual welfare through the minds of men and women. UNESCO Library Manifesto
“The opportunity awaits every youth
as well as individual of maturer years to enter through the medium of books,
the companionship of men and women of letters, who have had at their disposal
the wisdom of the ages. The unequalled privilege never possessed before by
modern civilization should inspire as well as animate the masses of the people.
Respectfully submitted
Library board of trustees William H. Hemenway-Chair March 20,1908
Respectfully submitted
Library board of trustees William H. Hemenway-Chair March 20,1908
From the M. N. Spear Memorial Library
Building Program July 2009
"Any expansion of the library must match the unique character of Shutesbury, respect the town and library history, reflect the needs of the residents, and be mindful of the budgetary limitations of a small town."
Building Program July 2009
"Any expansion of the library must match the unique character of Shutesbury, respect the town and library history, reflect the needs of the residents, and be mindful of the budgetary limitations of a small town."
Shutesbury is our town. A small town with a very
engaged and interesting populace. Amherst, for all of its proximity, is
not in fact our town. We don’t vote there, and can’t join in on town
committees. I moved to this area from a city so I could take part in small
town life. The place and the way for me to do this is through town
life in Shutesbury.
Emily Bloch
Donna Horn- Wendell artist
There are many things to love about life in Shutesbury, but
one that comes up every time is… You guessed it - the library! Whether it’s
here in Scotland, or in California or in Colorado or any of the many places
we’ve spent time in during the last few years, nothing reminds me more acutely
of how special our home is than stepping into what passes for libraries in
other places. I find direct parallels between a region’s quality of life and
the quality of their libraries.
Think of the possibilities! Get
excited about them! Though we’re an ocean away, that’s exactly what we’ve been
doing as we dream of returning to Shutesbury and as we envision the future
prosperity of the town.
-David
Durham
Sometimes taxes pay for the greater
good of the community and contribute to a responsible investment for
generations to come. This kind of civic endeavor is part of what makes a town a
real town.
Vote yes today to make a difference
in the future history of Shutesbury. In 50 years, at the tri-centennial, the
"new" library will be celebrated as a legacy of community pride.
Dave and
Susie Mosher
Saturday, February 27, 2016
#reclaimingmylivingroomshelfandlife
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