The library in Fall 2007

While the Peters Township Library addition will mean 50,000 new volumes for hundreds of area bookworms, others who should be excited about the improvements include teens, historians and those looking for a room to offer a class.

Construction on the two-story, 4,840 square-foot library addition on East McMurray Road began after groundbreaking ceremonies on July 14, 2006. The $1 million project is being funded through a $500,000 grant from the Keystone Recreation Park and Conservation Fund. To be eligible for the grant, the library must match that amount.

The library already had $250,000 in a capital improvement fund that was raised previously by Friends of the Library for a future addition. Since the future is here, the library organized an energetic fund-raising program to raise the $250,000 needed to comply with the grant requirements.

Librarian Pier Lee said that thanks to the generosity of Washington County individuals, corporations and foundations, that goal has been met and exceeded. More than $300,000 was raised for the project, with individuals being the biggest donors.

Lee gave kudos to the individuals heading up the fund raising campaign, well-known Peters Township residents Jackie Campbell and Janet Vidnovic.

“They did an excellent job,” said Lee. “They both took a different approach. And they both did so much research and legwork.”

Lee said the extra funds raised will go toward furniture and equipment for the new building.

In addition to the new books that will line shelves on both floors of the addition, the project will add a teen room with a restaurant motif complete with booths, a conference room and a local history room that will showcase the priceless historical items and pictures donated to the library for display.

“That touched my heart,” said Lee. “These historical contributions are very, very precious, but we didn’t have any room to display them because we needed shelving. Now we will have a separate history room.”

Lee said the new conference room will enlist a relaxed use policy, allowing patrons to use it for a quiet room when it is not in use for language classes, training sessions, tutoring or any number of other uses.

“We want the people to use the room for many different purposes,” said Lee, who has served the library for 32 years. “Our thinking is ‘we’re here for you.’”

The three rooms offered naming rights with a single donation of $20,000 for the local history or conference rooms and a donation of $35,000 for the teen room. Lee proudly and gratefully announced that all rooms are named, but she could not yet reveal the names or donors.

Lee said those who donated enough to name one of the three new rooms plus an individual who donated $10,000 did not do it for the recognition: They made their bequests because they recognize the importance of a community library and care about its future.

“They all want to remain anonymous,” said Lee.

Fund raising events during the last year have included Taste of the Township in April and National Library Week, during which local students raised $8,000 toward the construction of the addition.
The addition was needed because Peters Township residents have so enthusiastically embraced their library that per capita usage has increased by 34 percent since 1999, while the township’s population has risen by just 18 percent.

The ten-year-old building has a shelving capacity of 110,000 volumes but currently houses nearly 119,000 volumes. In addition, circulation has increased by 59 percent since 1999, making an expansion project essential. Lee said construction should be complete by the spring.

Lee said the addition was carefully planned to address the changing culture of libraries today, which are more of a gathering place to quietly socialize, take a class or use the computer than the 1950s library of strict, shushing librarians and sparse furnishings.

To that end, Lee fondly recalled the reaction of a child who had spent a moment peering at detailed addition plans at the groundbreaking.

“The most touching sentence I heard was a little child saying ‘Mom! Mom! This is my library!’” said Lee. “It really made me feel we are doing something right.”

For more information, call the library at 724-941-9430 or log on at www.ptlibrary.org.