Federation of Friends

On Friday, October 27, 2006 at 1:00 pm, Councilmember Kathy Patterson, Chairperson of the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, will hold a public oversight hearing on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. This meeting has been rescheduled from its’ original date of October 16, 2006. The purpose of the hearing is to examine the feasibility of the Carnegie Library site to serve as the location for a new central library for the District of Columbia . The Committee wishes to examine this option from programmatic, architectural, and financial perspectives. The public hearing will begin at 1 p.m. in the Room 412 of the John A. Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

The Committee invites the public to testify or to submit written testimony, which will be made a part of the official record. Anyone wishing to testify at the hearing should contact Evelyn Bourne-Gould, Legislative Assistant to the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, at 724-8195, or via e-mail at egould@dccouncil.us. All witnesses will be permitted a maximum of three (3) minutes for oral presentation.

If you are unable to testify at the hearing, written statements are encouraged and will be made a part of the official record. Copies of written statements should be submitted either to the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, or to Ms. Phyllis Jones, Secretary to the Council, Room 5 of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004.

BRANCH LIBRARIES TO OPEN ON SUNDAYS BEGINNING THIS WEEKEND
D.C. Public Library Makes This and Other Customer Service Changes

( Washington , DC ) - Beginning Sunday, October 15, 2006 , the District of Columbia Public Library will open its branches to the public on Sundays. In addition to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, all seventeen full-service neighborhood libraries in the city will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. each Sunday and now will operate seven days a week. The exceptions are the four small community libraries and the Deanwood Kiosk, which will continue to be open Monday through Friday.

“Sundays are generally when families spend the most time together so it’s great they will now be able to make their local branch library a family activity where every member can find something they enjoy,” said Ginnie Cooper, the D.C. Public Library’s Chief Librarian. “Whether it’s families or individual residents, we’re going to be attracting groups of people who wouldn’t normally have time to come to the library during the week. This is going to enable us to serve many, many more people who have information needs but perhaps did not have time to get their needs met.”

Opening branch libraries on Sundays has been advocated by the Library for years and was noted in the draft report of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future of the D.C. Public Library System as a necessary step toward becoming a 21st century library. For Fiscal Year 2007, which began on October 1, 2006 , the City Council of the District of Columbia approved the Mayor’s request of $790,000 to fund the cost for staff to provide Sunday service hours, as well as $210,000 for supplies and materials.

In addition to the new hours, Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper announced that beginning immediately there is no longer an age limit for children to obtain a library card, and no longer will there be a children’s handwriting requirement for a child to apply for a card. Now, parents and guardians may apply for a library card for very young children and it will be issued in the child’s name.

Cooper says this change will help to encourage children to read at a younger age, which is a hallmark of her library philosophy. She continued by saying, “Our former policy is historically common, and may still exist at other libraries. I have had the pleasure of changing similar policies at other places.”

Here’s an update on maintenance and capital construction at DCPL.

A New Deanwood: Designs are 50-percent complete for the new 10,000-square foot Deanwood Library. The library, which will replace the 150-square foot kiosk, will be co-located with the Department of Parks and Recreation’s 54,000 square foot aquatic and community center. The building will be paid for by the Department of Parks and Recreation. Locating together allows the library and community center to share spaces like a computer lab, senior center rooms, tutor rooms and community meeting rooms. The new building will be located at 49th and Quarles Street, NE and is slated to open around March 2009.

Exterior Restorations: Exterior restorations are underway for the oldest, most beautiful library buildings. Both libraries will remain open during this work:

Restorations have begun on the Mount Pleasant Library. The team consisting of Bell Architects and Garcete Construction are responsible for this project. Exterior improvements include windows, doors, security lighting, masonry restoration and signage. Work began on August 22, 2006 and will be completed by May 7, 2007.

Exterior restoration will begin shortly at the Georgetown Library. The team consisting of Grotheer Engineering and Rippeteau Architects are responsible for the design aspects of this project. Exterior improvements will include windows, doors, security lighting, masonry restoration, site work improvements and signage. Currently, the DC Office of Contracting and Procurement is in negotiation with the apparent low bidder. Once a contract is signed and the Notice To Proceed given, work will begin.

Renovation of the “Great Hall”: You may be wondering what will happen in the “Great Hall” (formerly the lobby) of the central library, especially now that the stage is removed. Design proposals have been received for re-configuration of the Great Hall to include installing scores of computers, a coffee station, and information kiosks for library users to contact other government agencies. Lighting will also be improved. The Office of Contracting and Procurement will award a contract based on the recommendation and design work will be completed 30 days after the contract is awarded. The project should take about 120 days to complete due to the long lead-time associated with new furnishings, which includes construction and installation. Not only will the project make the Great Hall more inviting to library users, visitors and staff, it will allow the King Mural to be showcased in a whole new light!

Elevators On The Move: This news will bring smiles to many faces I’m sure: elevators at Capitol View, Woodridge , Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Libraries, and elevators 1, 4 and 5 at the Central Library, will be modernized! Procedures to be done include adding new controls that call the elevator to a particular floor, new cabs to hold passengers, new rails that the elevator rides along in the shaft, and replacing older equipment with updated parts that are readily available. Parts design and fabrication will be ongoing until mid-January 2007. Work will begin immediately after and the elevators are slated to be ready for operation on May 1, 2007. In the meantime, bright red signs like the ones at central will be up at branch libraries letting library users know that help is on the way.