By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Every penny donated to the Wood County District Public Library counts.
All that loose change that whirls into the vortex in the lobby amounted to $342.50 in 2022 – and it went to buy toys for the Children’s Place.
The biggest fundraiser, the Library Foundation’s Novel Night in the summer brought in 11.2 million pennies – and all that $112, 000 went to purchase books and other materials to benefit patrons.
The library’s board of trustees Monday voted to accept these donations and the others made to the library in 2022. Those gifts totaled $179,135.83.
“It’s always impressive to see the way the community has supported the library,” Library Director Michael Penrod said.
All these funds go to buy materials, supplementing, not replacing, what’s generated by the library’s levy and through the state public library fund, the library’s largest source of income, an estimated $1.75 million this year.
Penrod said that the governor’s budget contained good news in that it called for maintaining the current rate of 1.7 percent of the state’s general revenue to support Ohio’s libraries. He encouraged the trustees to talk to legislators to encourage them to maintain that rate. Any tax cuts, he noted, that would lower revenue to the state would also mean less going to libraries.
On the spending side Penrod talked about several large expenditures looming.
The city will pay for paving the north side of the parking lot behind the library because of the damage done during the construction of the new city building. Penrod suggested rolling the repaving of the south half of the lot into the project. He said that would cost about $37,000.
The library is also facing replacing all the flat portions of its roof, which were last done when the library was renovated 20 years ago.
The heating plant also dates to that time and has a maximum life expectancy of 25 years. He said the heating plant should be replaced before it fails. He said he put the job off because of a high bid last year, but the work will need to be done this year. It should be completed before next fall when the heat goes on.
The project estimates have not yet been formulated. It would be paid out of the library’s capital fund.
And the library bookmobile, which cost $200,000, is approaching the end of its life. “We’re watching it closely,” he said.
Penrod said when the bookmobile was converted to use compressed natural gas, they expected that would be the next big thing for fueling large vehicles. It didn’t pan out that way. Fueling stations are few and far between. The bookmobile must gas up at the library and routes are planned based on how far it can go on a single tank of fuel.
And the vehicle is burning more fuel lately, said Deputy Director Michele Raine.
Because it is a specialty vehicle, there are very few places that can repair it and parts can be hard to find, Raine said.
Given it would probably take about nine months from the time it is ordered to be delivered, the trustees need to start considering its replacement soon.
“It’s going to take the additional planning,” said board president Ken Frisch. “It may take a couple years.”
The bookmobile, he said, “is a crucial part of our outreach service.”
