1987-03-03 N .
MINUTES
BERLIN-PECK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
MARCH 3, 1987
MEMBERS PRESENT - Paula Alkas, Elizabeth Baldyga, David Borthtia. & ,
Mary Carey, Atty. Paun. Czepiga, Judith Lindgren,
Joseph Pohlmann, Rosalie Punkunus, Peter Rosso
OTHERS PRESENT - Blanche Delaney, Cathy Nelson, Eugene Devlin,
Jeannine Sevigny
The Meeting was called to order at 7: 30 P.M. by Chairman Baldyga.
On Motion by Mr. Borthwick, seconded by Rosalie punkunus, is was
VOTED to approve the minutes of the February 24, 1987 meeting with
corrections made to page (31 paragraphs 2 and 5 and page (4) last
paragraph. MOTION CARRIED.
Mrs. Baldyga then asked the Board to look at a letter from the State
of Connecticut - Conn. State Library in Hartford, Connecticut. She
said that before the Board goes out to bid for a contractor we will
have to sign a personal Service Agreement. Money cannot be spent
under the contract until this is done. Mrs. Delaney said that the
items stated in the letter will have to be looked at before the
ground is broken for the new library.
Mrs. Baldyga then asked if the Henry Peck Trust Fund could be broken.
She said someone said that it couldntt be broken. It was decided by
the Board that we can break the trust fund and have all restrictions
lifted.
Mrs. Baldyga stated that there would be a public hearing on the
Cynthia Matthews Trust Fund grant of $500,000. This will be held
on March 23rd at 11 : 00 A.M. She said she called Mayor Thomas Ward
about it this morning. She would like Mayor Ward to testify at this
meeting. If he is unable, than she would like Blanche Delaney to testi-
fy in his place. Peter Rosso stated that anyone could testify at
this meeting because it is open to the general public. Mary Carey
asked if Cathy Nelson or Mr. Eugene Devlin could attend this meeting.
Cathy stated that she had a meeting to go to on this date but would
try to get out of it and attend trust fund hearing.
Paul Czepiga brought up an article from the New Britain Herald about
where the site will be located for the new Community Center. The ques-
tion of overlapping parking spaces with the Community Center and the
proposed library building was raised. Paul said that the site behind
the Marjorie Moore Village for the new community center was rejected
and that it will be set into the woods but accessible to the proposed
library building. Rosalie punkunus asked if the proposed site for
the Community Center had been brought up to the planning Commission.
peter Rosso stated that it hadn' t.
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Library Board Minutes
Barth 3 1987
paLe (
Mrs . Baldga quastioned what we were going to amend on the Statement
of Need. Mr. Borthwick wanted to know what the Periodical Reading ,
Room, Adult Audio Visual Room, Young Adult Study Room, Card Catalog
Area, Index Vertical File, Reference ILL Office and Reference Study
Area were all part of. He said that the Magazine Storage Area,
Group Study Rooms, Business Offices with Receiving Area, Children' s
Services, Reference Area, and Computer Room all add up to 5,820
square feet. He said that all the items on the list plus the storage
room have a total of 22,958 square feet, He questioned what they
meant by 20°/O non-assigned space . It was decided that this meant
the space for hallways, corridors, etc.
Cathy Nelson then went down the list of items that Mr. Borthwick
was questioning where they fit into other items. She said the
periodical Reading Room was part of Adult Fiction. She said this
area would probably be near the Circulation Desk. She said that
the Newington Library would probably have a separate roam for this.
She said it was not necessary to have a separate room for Adult
Audio Visual and said that this was part of the Audio Visual Room.
She said this area would most likely include headphones, cassette play-
ers etc. She said the Card Catalog Area was in the Reference Area
for both the children and adults. She said the Index Vertical File
was part of the Reference Room. She said ILL was an abbreviation
for Intra-Library Loan.
Cathy Nelson then brought up the fact that the Newington Library
has a larger professional staff. She said that we do not have that
many people on our full time staff. Mr. Borthwick then brought up the
personnel exn nsion issue for a greater amount of supervisory per-
sonnel. He said we will need to put space into the plans to make
roan for more personnel. Mary Carey said we are probably going to
have a mutual office for this personnel with desks for individual
people. She said that we have to think about having additional
staff when the library opens. Mr. Borthwick said that this is included
in the budget for next year,
Mr. Borthwick then brought up the fact that the square footage for
the Reference Study Area seems to be very large. Mary Carey sug-
gested that maybe a part of this area would be used for the Computer
Room. Dave Borthwick then wanted to know where the Study Area would
be located. Cathy Nelson said it was located in the Reference Area,
Peter Rosso said there is no Study Area in the Cromwell library and
he thinks this is very detrimental. David Borthwick then said the
square footage that we are talking about includes a Computer Room
plus a Study Area.
It was stated that in the Magazine Storage Area that we will have a
space for back issues of magazines. Mary Carey said we should have
an area with a lot of glass so that it could be well supervised.
Dave Borthwick said that the Typing Area should be in with the Compu-
Library Board Minutes
March 3, 1987
Page ( 3)
ter Room.
Mary Carey then mentioned a library in Portland that had much glass
and said she thought this was a good idea and would make for better
supervision of the children.
Cathy Nelson said she would like to see a pit area which could be
used by parents to read to their children included in the plans.
She then stated that her office would have to be close to the
Children' s Room so that she can travel back and forth between the
two areas. She said that they are moving the Circulation Area
out of the Children' s Department. She said that she thought the
children and this area could be manat_ed together.
Peter Rosso said the size of the Entry Area seemed to be awfully
large . This is figured to be 600 square feet. Cathy Nelson said
that we can certainly have a much smaller area and still make it
work, peter Rosso suggested using part of this area for the com-
puter room. Mary Carey asked that if once we have the plans typed
up etc. does this mean it will cost us extra money if we then make
any changes? Peter Rosso said that it wasn' t going to cost us any
additional money to make any changes right now until final plan is
drawn up.
peter Rosso said that all we were going to add to the plan would be
a Computer Room and a Reading Room.
Mary Carey asked if there would be a heating coil on the floor as
you walked through the door. Cathy Nelson said she did not put it
in the plan because it was too expensive and said it was not really
a necessity citing the fact that we were planning on having main-
tenance people to shovel walks etc. Mary Carey then questioned
if we were going to have a security system put in. Cathy Nelson
said she didn't think we would lose enough books to warrant putting in
such a system. Paula Alkas cited a library in Forestville that was
having a lot of books stolen and they put a security system in be-
cause of this and now they do not have any problems with persons
stealing books. Mr. Borthwick suggested putting it into the plan
and Cathy Nelson agreed that it might be a good idea. Mary Carey
said she thought that to put wiring in later for a security system
might be very expensive and thought it to be a good idea to put it
into the plans now. She also said she thought maybe kids from out-
lying towns might come to Berlin to use our library and there may
be a different clientele to use the library other than the children
from Berlin. Mr. Borthwick said that if the stacks were open we
may not need the security system but if they weren' t we probably
would. Eugene Devlin suggested the use of mirrors in the stacks
and asked if this was possible. peter Rosso suggested maybe having
a machine with a camera that would tape persons stealing books. Mr.
Pohlmann asked if this would be very expensive, peter Rosso replied
Library Board Minutes
March 3, 1987
Page (4)
this area would have to be explored to see what system would be
best.
Rosalie Punkunus said the architects from Kaestle-Boos Associates
would come to the meeting on March 10th aid, .include the Computer
Room in the plans.
Nary Carey asked if a plaque room would be included in the plans
to make note of persons that have made donations to the library.
She also said she would life to see a fireplace in the new li-
brary or something from the former library to be put into the
new library.
Mrs. Baldyga asked if there would be a special room for the blind.
Rosalie Punkunus said they have such a room at Willard School library
with a machine to enlarge print and aid the blind . She said we should
try to cater to the blind. Mary Carey suggested designating one room
for the blind with one of these machines in it. Mrs. Baldyg,a said there
aren' t too many libraries with facilities for the blind. Mary Carey
said we could use the extra room for study and also for the blind.
Paul Czepiga asked if we could find out how many blind people are
in the area to see if it would warrant having such a space . Peter
Rosso said that we could call the State Board for this information.
Everyone was in agreement that we need three Study Rooms. Mary
Carey said that this special machine to aid the blind would need to
be kept under lock in a cabinet large enough to hold the machine.
She asked Rosalie Punkunus to get the name of the machine from the
one at Willard School Library and also the serial number.
Blanche Delaney asked how many people would fit into the Study Room.
Mary Carey said there would probably be enough room for five people.
Rosalie Punkunus said it will have half glass walls so that the inside
of the Study Room call be seen.
Paula Alkas asked if there would be a change machine installed in the
library for people wanting to make copies on the public copying ma-
chine and needing change. Cathy Nelson said there is a machine in
the present library that takes dollars and gives back change. Mrs.
Baldyga asked if there would be a copier in the meeting room. Mary
Carey said that we could get a table top model for this room with a
cabinet for it. Eugene Devlin suggested a copier for the local his-
tory room so the material from this room would not be taken out of the
immediate area. Blanche Delaney said that a new copier for the li-
brary was definitely needed.
paula Alkas wanted to know if the plans included anything outside the
library. She said she would like to see a flag pole in front of the
library. Cathy Nelson said she would like to see a bench for the
Library Board Minutes
March 3, 1987
page ( 5)
kids sitting out front waiting for rides etc. Betty Baldyga wanted
to know if a courtyard would be included in the plans. Peter Rosso
said there should be enough space between wings to have a courtyard.
David Borthwick said it might obstruct any view. peter Rosso then
stated that we would find out about all of the above when the archi-
tects come for a return visit from Kaestle-Boos Assoc. on the 10th of
March.
There being no further business, peter Rosso made a motion to adjourn
the meeting. It was seconded by Cathy Nelson. MOTION CARRIED. Meeting
was adjourned at 8:55 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jeannine Sevigny
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