Library-Opening Day of the Children’s Room to be December 20!
Update for November 22, 2008
Open the door to knowledge
Opening Day of the Children’s Room to be December 20!
With our library director Russell Long finishing his first week on the job, the temporary lease agreement with Josephine County signed, computer systems in the works, and keys in hand, a date has finally been set!
Opening Day of the Children’s Room of the JCLI Library in Grants Pass will take place on Saturday, December 20! Festivities are being planned, and details will be announced in the coming weeks, as will the Grand Opening of the entire main branch in Grants Pass! Checkout services available then will depend on the timely installation and successful testing of computers and our Polaris library catalog system.
Contracts for library buildings and catalog systems
The temporary lease agreement has been signed by JCLI and Josephine County, and as a result, this week JCLI has officially taken provisional possession of the Grants Pass library building. The permanent lease agreement is expected to be signed in the coming weeks, and will allow the Grants Pass branch to open to the public by December 20.
The business plan, including the three-year budget, is posted on the JCLI Web site: www.josephinelibrary.org/Details/board.htm. JCLI will operate as an independent contractor to manage day-to-day operations of the library, personnel, programs, and technology.
We have signed the contract with Polaris for the computerized library catalog system. FastServer, LLC, is setting up the network and phone system. Qwest has scheduled installation of high-speed Internet and telephone lines for early December. Hart Insurance has donated the phones and Cummings Communications is installing them nearly free of charge!
PLEASE HELP! To prepare and maintain the building, we need long-term loans or outright donations of a commercial floor buffer, two commercial vacuum cleaners, and a ten-foot folding ladder. Please contact Doug Walker at 660-6531 or Russell Long at 226-7695, or send email to info@josephinelibrary.org.
We still need $21,026 to make it!
As of November 14, our community has contributed $278,974 to reopen our libraries — up from the $260,536 we reported last week! This means we still need $21,026 in memberships and other cash contributions to reach $300,000 and get the maximum effect of the county’s matching grant.
Our bare-bones library operations budget says we need $395,000 to open the main branch of the library. Help us do just that — if you haven’t yet joined, here are three ways to become a member of Josephine Community Libraries:
- Make your check out to Josephine Community Libraries, and mail it to JCLI, P.O. Box 1684, Grants Pass, OR 97528.
- Go to www.josephinelibrary.org and click the Donate button to make a secure contribution online using your debit card, credit card, or PayPal account.
- Go to www.josephinelibrary.org and click automatic monthly payment form. Complete the form to have your contribution automatically deducted each month from your checking account. Send the form and your first month’s check to JCLI, P.O. Box 1684, Grants Pass, OR 97528.
Annual membership levels are as follows:
- Sustaining Member $1 to $199
- Bronze Member $200 to $499
- Silver Member $500 to $999
- Gold Member $1000 to $4999
- Platinum Member at $5000 and up.
All membership contributions are tax-deductible. But remember, whether or not a person is a member, everyone in the county will be able to use the services of the library. Not only will contributions this month help us meet our November 30 deadline, but it’s a great way to take care of your holiday giving and year-end tax planning!
Library milestones
The first day for our new library director Russell Long was Monday November 17. That also happened to be the day we obtained the key and possession of the Grants Pass library building on a lease from Josephine County. We’ve been working toward these two milestones for many months, and now it’s a reality!
Our candidate for technical services librarian has accepted our offer for employment. We’ll have more information about this in the next issue of this newsletter. Interviews are under way for our part-time volunteer coordinator. These will be the three paid staff members that will help launch the JCLI library, with the help, of course, of hundreds of dedicated library volunteers. These volunteers will be trained to handle circulation, cataloging, and other essential library duties.
Fundraising results
The JCLI Book Sale, which took place last Saturday, November 15, cleared $2,967.85 in sales and brought in $424.00 in new memberships. That’s a total of $3,391.85 for this fundraiser! With the match, that takes it to $6,783.70.
Thanks to Barbara Ketley, who not only coordinated the JCLI Book Sale, but also led the effort in starting up, running, and closing down the JCLI Temporary Lending Library from August until now. It was a tremendous success, and a great service to our community during this interim period. Thanks also to the volunteers who worked in the temporary lending library and the 25 volunteers who worked to organize and sell the books at the JCLI Book Sale. Everybody, you’re AWESOME!
Race For Our Library. Century 21 agent Lori Patch and her 12-year-old daughter Anna Patch participated in a 10K run in Grants Pass on November 15, and collected about $1,000 in pledges to be donated to JCLI, before the November 30 deadline.
Century 21 challenge. Real estate agents in the Century 21 JC Jones American Dream office have pledged to donate a percentage of their sales commissions to Josephine Community Libraries, and broker JC Jones himself has pledged to match the agents’ contributions dollar for dollar up to $500. As a result, $1,190 has been raised by the brokerage. Participating agents include Christol Delany, Sharon Nash, Lori Patch, Cilicla Philemon, Randy Richardson, Sharon Wylie, and Sandi Ziegler.
The ShopRiverRock event that took place on November 6 brought in $1,000 for the libraries. Also, Southern Oregon Sanitation and Siskiyou Physical Therapy donated $1,000 each as corporate sponsors of Josephine Community Libraries.
JCLI sponsored a garage sale benefit from 9 am to 3 pm today, November 22 at the JCLI space at Parkway Village. All sales were donations to JCLI and are eligible for the county matching grant. Thanks to coordinator Nancy Smith and all the volunteers who helped with the sale and those who contributed items for sale!
We staff a lively table at Growers Market every Saturday, and we’ll be there providing information until the last day of Growers Market next Saturday on November 29. We have tee-shirts and bumper stickers, not to mention lots of information. Stop by and say hello!
Check the Web
Go to www.GrantsPassNow.com to see a wonderful new online video written by Patricia Snyder and produced by Ron Dowell. The video features JCLI board members and other community supporters in a public service announcement supporting our libraries. This video is also expected to be shown on RVTV public access television soon.
For more information about Josephine Community Libraries, check our own Web site at www.josephinelibrary.org.
This update is being sent to everyone on our Josephine Community libraries e-mail list. Feel free to forward to others. For questions or comments about anything in this update, please reply to this message (info@josephinelibrary.org) or call us at 660-6531.
Thank you for everything you’re doing to help reopen the libraries in Josephine County!
Teresa Stover, Project Manager
Josephine Community Libraries
541-660-6531
P.O. Box 1684
Grants Pass, Oregon 97528
