HomeMy WebLinkAboutRinger Library 11/30/04
,.-
I
I
I . Fri~,;; .. .~~l@Qrate 50th
,! ~.k1j""'< .
with<gi,ft~ to,U~raries
By SOMMERHAMILT6~"t " ; i~ 'Clara Mounce a member
Eagle staff Writer ': 1~./:":' ,of the organi~ation for
"..,~Jr,' I 27 ye$'s.
, The Friends of t;l1l'l:..Btyan- Many started out volunteer-
College Station': L,ibra1:ies ing' at the Bryan library as
expect to splurge th1S'year to ,book-shelvers and. general
celebrat~, tl,},~,lr,.Q}; . ., elp, . thou~h nowadays the
50th anmver:sary~ branes are, well-staffed and
The group pl' . e ,biggest".pdvate fmancial
four phot~ep~ ' tributod ~e tbos~ Friends
1 lic libraries" . ,lncevolunteered. The
$3,000 each. It" 'foF"gatljf~tion:\ which raises
from the Frien a,nWi_,mot:ieyJhrough book sales,
tion of more tb.'b~ dUe's ~d proceOO,s from photo-
system caretake ,a,,;hfrns . ,; c0pi-ers at. the libraries, steps
50 years old Nov. 22. in with funding for projects
Throughout the past and items that the cities don't
25 years, the Friends have have money for.
given more than $400,000 to As part of the group's gift on
the libraries, helping each its 50th, the Friends treated all
facility groW with new circula- 46 Bryan and College Station
tion and refer~nce desks, a library employees to a dinner
$15,000 annual budget for at Pebble Creek Country Club.
youth programming, furni- ,UP to their elbows last week
ture and additional shelving. m. s~rapbooks of newspaper
The Friends always have chppmgs and event programs,
been about the interaction Mounce and Carriegie Library
\. between people and opening manager Nan RosS pored over
the doors of the public the organization's history,
libraries to all who want
access, said community librar- See FRIENDS, Page A3
"
.
.
/
r--
- 1/-/ V"'"2ooy
Friends
\
I
smiling at youthful pictures of
now-aged members and run-
ning their fmgers over book .
lists from the 1940s and '50s.
Ross, a member of the
Friends for the past three
decades, said Friday she hasn't
forgotten the dedication to pub-
lic service a former city librar-
ian taught her when she fIrst
came to Bryan. ,,-:
"Sh ,...J ""n..~" ,,,~< talk t
, e sa'l\\l;~?v.rllen 'you 0
people, they" 'will call it their
library. And,tpe~'r~,:$f!ight,> it's
their 'fi-br~l"~.'Nevei" fOrget
that,''' Ross said Friday. "Even
after 30 years, I take offense at
an unanswered question."
The history and progress of
the libraries' has dovetailed
alongside that of the Friends,
which in 1954 charged $1 for
dlJ-es; Contributors now pay $20
to '$50 a year or $250 to become
a lifelong Friend. The group
has sponsored compact disc
and video collections, yearlong
storytelling for toddlers and
children's summer programs.
But chief among the contri-
butions . in recent years is the
effort the Friends championed
in ~fue late 19908 to refurbish
the once-proud Carnegie
Library, turning it from a
downtown dust trap into' a
resource and genealogy center
with history at its core.
The Friends handed over a
check for $70,000 to the city of
Bryan on the day the Carnegie
was rededicated in 1999, 30-
year .member Elaine Vance
said last week.
I "The library has never been
I contentious; it has always been
L'
I
I
~
\
I
i
I
l
a community-wide support,"
said Vance, a retired nurse.
The Friends also helped
push for the creation of the Col-
lege Station Library, which
opened on Harvey Mitchell
Parkway in 1998. The facility is
named for Larry J. Ringer, a
former College Station mayor
and longtime Friend who
helped bridge' the gap between
the two municipalities' when
Bryan took over library servic-
es for both cities.
Ringer, like most of the
Friends, said libraries have
been a part of his life since he
would [un down to his public
library every Saturday to
check out books. ,
"If a community has a good
library, it's a sign that they are
there to help the community
grow and learn," he said
Wednesday. "The Friends help
with so many things, a lot of
miscellaneous things that pop
Community librarian
Clara Mounce (left)
and longtime Friends
of the Library
volunteer and past
president Elaine
Vance look over
scrapbooks last week
at Carnegie Library.
The scrapbooks
contain stories and
memorabilia from the
past 50 years about
the Friends of the
Library organization
and Its related
activities.
Eagle photo
Dave McDermand
up that will benefIt the users of
the libraries."
The Bryan Library's budged
has grown from $380,000 in 1981 ,
to more than $2 million today.
The Friends purchased a com-
puter server this year at a cost I
of more than $40,000 to help,
automate all aspects of the
library system.
Mounce counted herself
lucky last week to have been a
part of watching both the
library and its support base in I
the Friends grow.
\ "The last 27 years have been
th~ most exciting of my life,"
She~aid. "Not many librarians
get to renovate an antique
build' g and build a whole new
one. '
"The Friends' success has
been the,libraries' success."
. Somme'r Hamilton's e-mail J
address ~ is shamilton@ 1
I
theeagle.com.\ J