Upgrades planned at Powell Library
By W. WINSTON SKINNER
winston@newnan.com Members of the Coweta Public Library System trustees have given approval to the proposed budget for next year and for participation in a grant program to improve the Powell Library in Newnan.
The board met Tuesday afternoon at Central Library. Trustees unanimously voted to approve a proposed budget of $473,264 – which does not include personnel costs. The 2012 budget totals $436,264.
County funds of $122,300 will match the state dollars. “The county has committed their support,” said Barbara Osborne-Harris, director of the library system.
Joe Gardner of Gardner Spencer Spence Tench and Jarbeau in Atlanta will again be doing the architectural plans for the library system project. Because of the grant, CPLS will be able “to finish out all of the HVAC system” at Powell, Osborne-Harris said.
The circulation desk will be redone “so the desk will sort of have the feel of this building,” she said. “Were going to actually have a fully handicapped accessible desk at Powell, which we don’t have now.”
Also, Osborne-Harris said, “All of the adult public computers are going to be updated and replaced.” She said plans call for all 24 computers to be replaced on a Sunday “so there is no interruption to public service at all.”
Osborne-Harris said the county is expected to get the budget back to the trustees by the end of July, adding that she would like the trustees to hold a called meeting once the budget is returned from the county commission.
She said there should be time for library trustees to speak at commission hearing “if they feel the budget is not adequate to provide library services.”
In other business:
• The board authorized Jay Moore, trustee chairman, to sign the final pay application for Senoia once all work is satisfactorily completed. “We still have a couple of outstanding punch list items,” Osborne-Harris said.
She said she hopes all the work will be complete “by next week.”
• Tom Dombrowsi, the board’s treasurer, said the library system’s spending is on track. With three quarters of the budget year gone, the system has spent 74.8 percent of its annual budget. “We’re a hair below budget through three quarters,” he said.
The board unanimously approved the finance report.
• Osborne-Harris reported the new program that enables patrons to use phone service or the Internet to handle library business is being used.
The system will call people when a book is due. “People really appreciate the reminder,” Osborne-Harris said.
The system is in place at Powell and Central. The program is to implemented at Senoia and Grantville on Aug. 1 and fully implemented throughout the system by the end of the summer.
Trustee Karen Cope said the system allows for more efficient use of staff time.
• Osborne-Harris talked about use of the wireless Internet system. She said there is not a mechanism currently to track use of the system at Grantville and Senoia. A recent tally at Powell and Central, however, showed 6,412 hits.
Cope remarked on the widespread use of laptops. “I was up here the other day and the place was full” of people using their laptops, she said. Osborne-Harris noted people are using their cellphones to access the library Internet, too.
• Osborne-Harris told the board 1,685 individuals have registered for the Summer Reading Program this year. That number includes 237 young adults and 382 adults “which is really great.”
She said participation is up sharply at Grantville and Senoia. “We’re having a very, very busy summer,” Osborne-Harris said.
• Osborne-Harris said a review of the CPLS collection development policy is planned in the near future.
• The trustees held a moment of silence in memory of Weyman Jenkins, a longtime library board member from Grantville who died since the last meeting.
“It was obvious he was a very dedicated and loyal trustee and a strong proponent for library services,” Moore said. “We certainly will miss him.”
Dombrowksi remembered Jenkins as “dedicated not only to the Coweta County library system” but to the county as a whole. He noted Jenkins was also a member of the county development authority.
Osborne-Harris read a note from Jenkins’ wife, Carolyn.
• The trustees voted to hold their next meeting Oct. 16 at 5 p.m. “Are we going to have it here?” Moore said.
“It’s up to you,” Osborne-Harris replied.
The trustees voted to hold their October meeting at the library in Senoia.
