Can We Keep Our Beach Library?By Anne McKay Garris
A group of concerned citizens of Clearwater Beach have devised a creative plan to save the 46- year-old Clearwater Beach Library Branch from the budget ax. Ever since preliminary budget reports indicated that both the Beach Branch and the Beach Recreation Center were being considered for closing, the citizens have been in communication with Mayor Frank Hibbard and City Manager Bill Horne on ways to preserve these important facilities, used by both citizens and tourists. One member of the group was startled, last week, to discover workers busily packing books from the shelves at the Beach Branch, sorted in boxes to be discarded, taken to other branches, or put in storage until the recreation center could be improved to accommodate library activities. Although the closing of both facilities are on the City Manager's list of cuts, the Clearwater City Council will not have a final vote on the decision until their July 16th meeting. The citizens are proposing that the city move the library to the Recreation Center. There the Beach Community will provide volunteers to augment city staff, or, if that fails, the Beach volunteers will contract with the city to run both facilities, using rents from the meeting rooms to fund the project. The enthusiasm for helping with the library is so high on the Clearwater Islands that one resident is taking a course in library science during her vacation so she will be qualified to be a part of the effort. Councilmember John Doran, contacted on his vacation, expressed surprise that the dismantling of the Beach Branch was proceeding before the final vote. Councilmember Paul Gibson was interested in hearing about the proposal for community volunteer involvement. "I will look closely at the suggestion of community involvement and consolidation with the recreation center," he said. The Community Volunteers point out that 45 percent of the residents of the Clearwater Islands Communities have library cards, compared to 25 percent for the rest of the City. Patrons at the Beach Branch also take out an average of seven items per person, compared to four items per person for the rest of the city. They also cite the advantage of the Beach Branch to our tourists who appreciate the books and videos to check out as well as the computer access. A message from Barbara Pickell, Clearwater Public Library Director, explains that, in beginning to remove the books from the Beach Branch, they are working under the assumption that the Branch will either close, or move to a smaller but permanent home combined with the Beach Recreation Center. "We can't move 22,000 books overnight," she reports, "so we have begun sorting our material as if we are going to relocate to a smaller facility." "If the Beach Branch joins with the Recreation Center," she adds, "the new library space will be about half the size of the current library space. However, we believe it will still be able to provide excellent service to the public since we will develop a collection to meet the specific needs of the Beach Community. A combined facility would save the city about $100,000 a year." Ms. Pickell further informed the volunteers that, since the Beach Branch lease is up on October 1, 2007, it will be necessary to close the Branch on September 1, in order to empty the facility. She concluded with the fact that, if we do go to joint use with the Recreation Center, there will be no library service on the Beach until the Recreation Center is modified." The Clearwater Beach Branch Library was started by the residents of Clearwater Beach in the Recreation Center, shortly after that facility was built. It was taken over by the city and moved to the Memorial Civic Center where it had a permanent home until the Civic Center was destroyed to make way for the Roundabout. The City Commissioner serving at that time, assured the people of the community that they would built them another Branch Library, but moved the facility into rental quarters at Pelican Walk until permanent quarters could be found. The concerned citizens volunteers will hold a meeting on July 10, at 7 p.m. at the Beach Recreation Center to discuss the situation before the July 16 Council meeting. If you would like more information, or to volunteer, e-mail cbbooks-recreation@ earthlink.net, or phone Pat Power at 446-0929. |