USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Town annual report of Andover 1945-1949 > Part 8
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As one way of implementing the dissemination of ideas, of furthering this conception of thinking things through to- gether, the library has sponsored at various times forum dis: ยท cussions. Like books they deal in ideas, but unlike books they provide the situation in which men of diverse opinion and background can meet in neutral and friendly surround- ings to exchange opinions and thus carry one step further this special ability of the library to tie together the variegated threads which go to make up community life.
Two series of forum discussions, eight meetings in all. were held in 1945 and were the result of group program- ming. Discussion subjects ranged all the way from a con- sideration of Argentina's present policy to that most thorny of current problems, labor and management cooperation.
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Other activities included a panel discussion, Andover Looks Ahead, held in conjunction with a specially arranged library exhibit on town planning, in which most town depart- ment heads participated; a series of four meetings on topics of varied interest at the Ballardvale Branch Library, the annual library Open House in November, at which Dr. Fuess spoke brilliantly about the mystery story; a Ballardvale Open House, to celebrate the redecoration of the library interior; and a neighborhood meeting in West Andover, when a library friend showed lovely color slides of Indian life across the United States to an audience of eager women, representing four or five racial backgrounds.
In the building of a closer world community boys and girls will play an important part and for them as well as for their elders, books will have a full share in developing atti- tudes of mind in which this idea of one world can grow and flourish. Every day they are discovering through the books about boys and girls of other lands, borrowed from the Young People's Library, that young people, wherever they may be, are not strange creatures but boys and girls with essential qualities, hopes and aspirations very much like their own. Through the Treasure Chest, a project to provide books in English for boys and girls in formerly occupied countries, Andover boys and girls are presented through the Young People's Library with a real opportunity to make an effective contribution to better understanding.
Activities in the Young People's Library during the year have been planned to include all age groups and to make the library so attractive that boys and girls will not want to miss what it has to offer them. The tea in June for mothers of children entering school in the fall, drew, despite a very rainy day, the largest group of mothers and children which have ever come out for this occasion. The film program on four successive Friday afternoons in April was well patronized, with an average attendance of one hundred and fiftv. A very direct result was increased book circulation on these Friday afternoons. Story hours have been held at vari-
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ous times throughout the year; especially recalled is one story hour during Book Week when Mr. John J. Cronan, story- teller par excellence, delighted his audience with his in- exhaustible repertoire from literature, old and new. Instruc- tion in the use of reference books has been given to several groups at the Pike School and at St. Augustine's. It is a source of satisfaction that parent use of the Young People's Library is on the increase. Many come frequently to get help in select- ing books for home use and to ask advice before purchasing books for home libraries.
During the past year a series of four lessons on the use of the library and reference books was given in the library to all tenth grade English classes at Punchard High School and another series will be given in 1946. With the addition to the library staff of a special librarian for young people of high school age, a program will be developed which, it is hoped, will bring an increasing number of young people to the library and in consequence a wider enjoyment and appre- ciation of good books.
Gold lapel buttons are much in evidence these days as young people, back from military service, take up once more their accustomed library ways or become acquainted for the first time with what the library has to offer them. These young people, men and women alike, should have much to con- tribute to community life for, while not all of them will come back embued with a passion to enter more deeply into the life of their world, some will have found a heightened con- ception of the things that matter most and will have felt more keenly their relationship to all men, particularly perhaps to other Americans, from every corner and condition of Ameri- can life. It is the library's responsibility to provide them books which will help them in whatever ways they need help most and to create an atmosphere which will make books seem the logical concomitant of an intelligent, useful, and resourceful life.
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Naturally their immediate needs concern their adjust- ment to civilian life. One staff member has been assigned to coordinate library services and to devise ways and means in which the library can be a major help to these young people. A special collection of vocational. and educational books and pamphlets, college and school catalogs, has been housed in the Reference alcove and has already seen much use. In the Veterans' Office at the Town Hall, a small browsing corner has been set up complete with attractive books and magazines, colorful rug, comfortable chairs and other small appurtenances. The library is happy to be part of the ex- cellent community organization which has sprung into being to serve this group. The referral service from Mr. Markey's department, in particular, has been very effective. These young people seem little changed, older and perhaps a bit more sober, and strong in determination to make the most of their opportunities under the G. I. Bill of Rights. Vocational and educational material, civil service books, refresher books in mathematics, radio and in other fields are the type of material most frequently requested. One boy lacks two years of high school and is working to make up his deficiency so that he can go on to a higher school; another intends to become a lawyer and is saturating himself in the history of law; another, recalling an early interest in veterinary medicine. goes out of the library armed with books and pamphlets, outlining information basic to this field; yet another, an ex- fireman's mate, has borrowed everything and then some on steam boilers to enable him to pass an examination as sta- tionary engineer; still another, fumbling to find his niche, is sent to the Guidance Department at Punchard High School, where expert counselling is available; another, seeking in- formation about trade schools, finally tells us that he has found present conditions too confusing and that he has joined the army again until things straighten out a bit.
Reading trends are interesting because they mirror rather accurately the things in which people are most in- terested at any given time. This year, if one trend can be
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isolated over all others, it would be the very general interest in books about all phases of family life and relationships. For example, there has been a constant demand for such recent books, whose purposes are easily suggested by their titles, as Management in Daily Living, Psychology of Personal . Adjustment, Marriage and Family Life, Building Your Life, and many others of similar character. Books on home enter- tainment, games and parties, books on handicrafts, on hobbies and collecting, and on the one hundred and one ways in which people seek to express themselves creatively, have circulated over and over again. suggesting that once again, in part at least, the home has become the center for recreational and leisure time activity. In ever increasing use are the books about the care and training of children and books which help to bring an awareness of that complicated human being, the adolescent boy or girl. If all the people who have enjoyed books on interior decoration and home building, or who have cast a wistful eye on country living, could nut their ideas into immediate effect, there would be a building boom hard to stop. Perhaps the most popular books of all at the library these days would include such titles as Small House of To- morrow, Planning Your Home for Better Living, Homes for Homemakers, and others like them. It is no accident that the course which proved most popular on the questionnaire sent out by University Extension should have been Interior Dec- oration, with the result that this course has been given this fall in the library hall to a capacity audience.
As men and women, boys and girls, share with the library staff their book enthusiasms. and the subject fields in which they have some proficiency, there is built up a kind of intel- lectual reservoir which can be called upon whenever neces- sary. So, too, a knowledge of specialists in the community can make the library a kind of intellectual clearing house, for in a few instances. a library borrower has been directed, not to a book, but to an individual whose subject knowledge or practical experience guarantees that he can be of assistance.
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The public library then becomes the interpreter of the com- munity to itself.
Another instance of the library's concern to meet the needs of as many people as possible has been its service, on a limited scale, to people, who, because of frail health, can not visit the library themselves. Thanks to a faithful girl scout, a few of them have been supplied with books, accord- ing to their taste and liking. This year, too, books have been sent to the town infirmary, frankly at first as an experiment, but so much have they been enjoyed that one collection is turned in only to be replaced with another.
The library has prepared special book lists, in particular this year a garden list for members of the Andover Garden Club and a Lenten reading list in cooperation with the An- dover Council of Churches; has arranged book exhibits for the use of groups outside the library building; borrowed interesting hobby collections for display in the library; been the center for local organization meetings and study groups and has tried, in these small ways, to indicate its eagerness to be a contributor, whenever it is possible, to every com- munity adult education activity.
Changes in our Library Board and Staff have con- tinued. Mr. Burton S. Flagg, a member of the Board for thirty-four years, declined to stand for reelection in 1945. Mr. Flagg was associated with the library during its years of greatest growth as a public service and contributed in large measure through his intelligent interest to its development. Mr. Leo F. Daley was elected to the Board in his place. A great loss also was the resignation from the Board of Trustees as member and chairman of Mary Byers Smith, whose connec- tion with the library through her grandfather, father and her- self, spanned three-quarters of a century and whose own con- tribution to library advance in Andover grew out of the pro- found belief that books matter mightily in the lives of men and women, boys and girls. Another major loss was sustained through the death of Mr. Nathan C. Hamblin, member of the
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Board from 1916 to 1945, its chairman from 1925 to 1934, whose wise counsel meant much in the ongoing course of the library. Mrs. Hart D. Leavitt and Mr. William N. Perry have been appointed to fill the vacancies. Miss Isabel F. Noone, a general assistant on the library staff from 1943 to 1945, resigned to go into army library work and our good wishes go with her in her new work. The library was fortunate to secure as Circulation and Young People's Librarian, Miss Margaret Lane of Boxford.
Improvements in the library building and equipment have been many and have added to the beauty of the interior as well as to its usefulness. The main reading room has been repainted; the cellar floor no longer resembles a bomb crater; the walls and ceilings in the boiler room and basement store- room have been whitened; electric lights have been installed in the storeroom, a new boiler replaces a unit which gave out in March, and a staff room has been partitioned off the storeroom, giving staff members an attractive and restful place in which to spend a luncheon or supper hour.
The library sees as its major concerns for 1946: (1) the revitalizing of its fundamental purposes and the establish- ment of a future course of action in keeping with them; (2) the responsibility to bring to the attention of men and women, not merely the new, the transient, the deceptively . important, but the great books in all areas of human thought which can help to bring some direction to the confusion which peace, with all its blessings, has brought and (3) the great opportunity to serve with imagination, men and women return- ing from the armed services and all others seeking re- orientation to new conditions. Herbert Agar in his Time for Greatness wrote that it is impossible to hold moral convie- tions without expressing them in action. Something of this urgency, this need for the "habitual vision of greatness" undergirds library thinking now and will do so in the days ahead.
Perhaps in recapitulation, the library, which is the com-
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munity, may be conceived of as a large wheel with spokes going out in all directions. Along the spokes flow the services which the library offers to individuals and groups throughout the community. This is not a one-way circuit, however, for all that strengthens individuals or groups in the end combines to enrich the whole community and thus we come back to the conception of the library, seemingly a valid one, as a unifying force in the community.
Enough has been suggested in the course of this report to indicate how much the library depends upon the men and women who support and use it-that the conception of a library and its services, its financial support and its use are all important parts, no one of which could be separated from the rest and leave the whole unimpaired. The same is true of the actual outlining and refining of library purposes and their translation into action, for were it not for the devotion and vision of the members of the Board of Trustees and of the library staff, the library would be a feeble and ineffectual instrument at best.
Respectfully submitted,
MIRIAM PUTNAM, Librarian
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1945 STATISTICS OF LIBRARY USE
BOOK STOCK
Adult
Juvenile
Total
Volumes at beginning of year
32,116
7,814
39,930
Volumes added by purchase
1,353
578
1,931
Volumes added by gift
182
30
212
Volumes lost or withdrawn
525
806
1,331
Total volumes at end of year
33,126
7,616
40,742
Pediodicals currently received
83
USE
Volumes % of total circ.
Volumes of adult fiction loaned
44,172
43.5
Volumes of adult non-fiction loaned
19,834
19.5
Number of children's books loaned
37,548
37.0
Total number of books loaned
101,554
REGISTRATION
Adult Juvenile Total
Borrowers registered during year
461
203
664
Total number of registered borrowers 4,174
1,078
5,252
Circulation per capita (based on 1940 census figures) -9.1
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TOWN OF ANDOVER
Forty - Fourth Annual Report
OF THE
Board of Public Works
EMBRACING THE FIFTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT of WATER COMMISSIONERS and FORTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT of SEWER COMMISSIONERS
For the Year Ending DECEMBER 31, 1945
1946
*John H. Flint
*Wm. S. Jenkins
*Wm. S. Jenkins
1899-1902
*John H. Flint *Wm. S. Jenkins *John L. Smith *James P. Butterfield *Felix G. Haynes 1903-1906
*Barnett Rogers ('22) William D. McIntyre ('21)
* Arthur T. Boutwell ('22) Philip L. Hardy, Sec'y ('21)
*Thos. E. Rhodes, Treas. ('23) 1922-1923
*John L. Smith
*Felix G. Haynes
*John W. Bell
* Lewis T. Hardy
*James C. Sawyer 1906-1907
*Felix G. Haynes
*John W. Bell, Treas.
*Tames C. Sawyer, Sec'y
*Lewis T. Hardy
*Harry M. Eames 1907-1908
*Felix G. Haynes
*John W. Bell, Treas.
*James C. Sawyer, Sec'y
*Lewis T. Hardy
*Andrew McTernen 1908-1912
* Lewis T. Hardy *Arthur T. Boutwell ('28)
*John W. Bell, Treas.
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('28)
*James C. Sawyer, Sec'y
*Andrew McTernen
*Willis B. Hodgkins 1913-1914
*Lewis T. Hardy ('16) *Arthur T. Boutwell ('31) *Barnett Rogers .('16) *Walter I. Morse, Treas. ('32) *Andrew McTernen ('15) Wm. D. McIntyre, Sec'y ('30) *Thos. E. Rhodes, Sec'y ('14) George H. Winslow ('30) e
*Wiliis B. Hodgkins, Treas. ('15) Thos. P. Dea ('31) 1914-1916
1929-1930
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('19)
Wm. D. McIntyre ('33) . *Walter I. Morse, Treas. ('32) George H. Winslow, Sec'y ('33) Edward P. Hall ('42)
*Barnett Rogers ('16) *Lewis T. Hardy ('16) *Andrew McTernen, Sec'y ('18) *Arthur T. Boutwell ('31) *Willis B. Hodgkins, Treas. ('18) Thos. P. Dea ('31) 1916-1917 1930-1931
*Barnett Rogers ('19)
Wm. D. McIntyre ('33)
*Walter I. Morse, Treas. ('32) George H. Winslow, Sec'y ('33) John B. White ('43)
Thos. P. Dea ('34)
Jesse Bottomley ('45) Fred W. Doyle ('45) 1943-1944
Sidney P. White ('44)
William F. Barron ('46)
*Andrew McTernen ('18) Chas. B. Baldwin, Sec'y ('19)
Frank A. Buttrick ('34)
Jesse Bottomley ('45) Fred W. Doyle ('45) P. Leroy Wilson ('46) 1944-1945
Sidney P. White ('47)
*Andrew McTernen ('21) Philip L. Hardy ('21)
*Walter I. Morse ('35) Tohn H. Playdon ('36)
William F. Barron ('46)
Chas. B. Baldwin, Sec'y ('22) Frank A. Buttrick ('34)
*Thos. E. Rhodes, Treas. ('20) #Henry A. Bodwell ('34) 1945-1946
Sidney P. White ('47) William F. Barron ('46) Fred W. Doyle ('48)
P. Leroy Wilson ('46) Edward A. Doyle ('48)
SUPERINTENDENT CHARLES T. GILLIARD
*Felix G. Haynes
1893-1894 *John L. Smith
1894-1899 *John L. Smith
*Charles E. Abbott *John E. Smith
1933-1934-1935 Wm. D. McIntyre ('36) *Walter I. Morse ('38) John H. Playdon ('36) Frank A. Buttrick ('37) *Henry A. Bodwell ('37) 1934-1935-1936 Wni. D. McIntyre ('39) *Walter I. Morse ('38) John H. Playdon ('39) Frank A. Buttrick ('37) *Henry A. Bodwell ('37) 1935-1936-1937
Wm. D. McIntyre ('39) *Walter I. Morse ('38)
Frank A. Buttrick ('40) *Henry A. Bodwell ('40) 1938-1939
Wm. D. McIntyre ('39) John H. Playdon ('39)
*Arthur T. Boutwell, Treas. ('28) Frank A. Buttrick ('40) *Thos. E. Rhodes ('28) *Walter I. Morse ('28) 1927
*Henry A. Bodwell ('40) Sidney P. White ('41) 1939-1940
Sidney P. White ('41) *Henry A. Bodwell ('40) Frank A. Buttrick ('40) John H. Playdon ('42) Edward P. Hall ('42) 1940-1941
Sidney P. White ('41) John H. Playdon ('42) Edward P. Hall ('42)
William F. Barron ('43) John B. White ('43) 1941-1942
Sidney P. White ('44) John H. Playdon ('42)
William F. Barron ('43) John B. White ('43) 1942-1943
Sidney P. White ('44) William F. Barron ('43)
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('17)
*Andrew McTernen ('18) Chas. B. Baldwin, Sec'y ('19)
*Willis B. Hodgkins, Treas. ('18) Frank A. Buttrick ('34) 1917-1918 1931-1932 *Barnett Rogers ('19) Wm. D. McIntyre ('33) *Thos. E. Rhodes ('20) *Walter I. Morse ('35) Thos. P. Dea ('34)
*Willis B. Hodgkins, Treas. ('18) John H. Playdon ('33) 1918-1919
1932-1933
*Barnett Rogers ('22) Wm. D. McIntyre ('36)
Jesse Bottomley ('45)
Fred W. Doyle ('45) P. Leroy Wilson ('46)
*Deceased
188
WATER COMMISSIONERS 1889-1899 *James P. Butterfield SEWER COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS 1919-1920-1921
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('23) Philip L. Hardy ('24) Wm. D. McIntyre, Sec'y ('27)
*Arthur T. Boutwell ('25) Edward Shattuck ('25) 1923-1924 Philip L. Hardy ('27) Wm. D. McIntyre, Sec'y ('27) *Arthur T. Boutwell, Treas. ('25) John H. Playdon ('39) Edward Shattuck ('25) *Walter I. Morse ('26) 1924-1925-1926
Philip L. Hardy ('27) Wm. D. McIntyre, Sec'y ('27)
*Walter I. Morse, Treas. ('29) Wm. D. McIntyre, Sec'y ('30) George H. Winslow ('30) 1928-1929
i
Board of Public Works
Andover, Mass.
February 5, 1946
The Board of Public Works voted to adopt the follow- ing report of the Superintendent as its report for 1945 with recommendations for 1946.
SIDNEY P. WHITE, Chairman WILLIAM F. BARRON, Secretary EDWARD A. DOYLE FRED W. DOYLE P. LEROY WILSON
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Superintendent's Report
To the Board of Public Works:
GENTLEMEN:
The major activities and developments in the Water, Highway, Sewer and Park Departments during the year which ended December 31, 1945, were as follows:
WATER DEPARTMENT
The turbine at the Haggetts Pond Pumping Station was given a thorough inspection by an inspector from the General Electric Company. The following report was received:
Town of Andover, Board of Public Works,
Andover, Mass.
Attention: Mr. Charles T. Gilliard, Supt.
GENTLEMEN :
Referring to our telephone conversation of today, we are pleased to furnish you with additional explanation con- cerning the report on the conditions of this turbine.
In the course of making inspection it is not uncommon practice to omit dismantling some part which is giving satis- factory service and therefore is believed to be in good con- dition. In this case, the hydraulic cylinder which operates the control valves, the control valves themselves and the main oil pump were not inspected.
The condition of the first row, first stage buckets is not serious from the standpoint of strength although as explained in this letter the efficiency is undoubtedly somewhat impaired.
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The main shaft bearings are babbit lined. When new, these have a clearance of approximately .0013" per inch of shaft diameter. We have arbitrarily set a limit of .002" per inch of shaft diameter for good operating practice. As long as no vibration, oil throwing or other unsatisfactory operation is encountered, however, there is no reason why this limit can not be exceeded. The operation of this machine is such that we do not consider change of bearing linings necessary at the present time. We believe you have spare linings on hand should they be needed, either at next inspection or prior to that time.
The crack in the wheel casing does not appear to be of a serious nature, at least at the present time. It does not appear to be getting any worse and is located in a flange so that it does not cause any steam leaks. As long as it does not get worse I see no reason for apprehension.
The emergency governor should operate at approxi- mately 5,660 rpm, on the turbine which corresponds to ap- proximately 1,675 rpm on the pump. Due to the fact that the pump pressure increases with the speed it is difficult to get the conditions favorable for speeding up the unit to the point of testing this trip.
The last record we have is several years ago when it was found to operate at 5,600 rpm which was entirely satisfactory. Presumably it is still operative but it is very difficult to definitely prove this.
Clearances given on the reduction gear bearing are not excessive but were given as a matter of record.
We are obtaining a quotation from the factory for vari- ous parts mentioned in the report and will forward it to you shortly.
Yours very truly, G. W. HOWARD, District Turbine Engineer By W. A. Taylor
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The Worthington pump, which is propelled by the Gen- eral Electric Turbine, was inspected and necessary repairs made.
Cross connections have been tested by the State Board of Health engineer and one of the Town employees. There are four cross connections at the Shawsheen Mills, one at Phillips Academy and two at the Tyer Rubber Company.
The boiler setting of the newer of the two boilers at the Haggetts Pond Pumping Station was repaired by the H. W. Grover Company of Danvers. Bids for this work were also received from the Plibrico Company and Frank G. McCarthy.
The clapper valve on the eight-inch discharge line of the electric pump at the Haggetts Pond Pumping Station was promptly repaired when it was discovered to be worn.
The six-inch water main on Dascomb Road was extended from the dead end in front of Mr. John Hall's property a distance of two hundred and twenty-four feet to a point be- yond the driveway of Mr. A. S. Pendleton. This made it pos- sible to do away with an old one-inch line which ran from the old hydrant branch in front of the Hall property along Das- comb Road, thence across the Pendleton property and to replace it with a direct line of one-inch copper tubing from the new six-inch line in front of the house, thereby giving a much better supply of water.
A coal bin has been built at the Bancroft Road Pumping Station. This bin is located on the outside of the building and a hole in the brick allows the coal to be shovelled from the inside of the building.
The following report was received from Weston & Samp- son, Consulting Engineers, on January 4th, 1946:
Board of Public Works,
Andover, Mass.
GENTLEMEN:
We submit the following report on the improvements to the water system completed in 1945.
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Following our report in January, 1945, to the Special Committee and subsequent conference between your Board, the Special Committee, Board of Selectmen, Finance Com- mittee and others, the Annual Town Meeting in March, 1945, appropriated $150,000.00 for improvements to the water distribution system. On April 2, we were engaged by your Board to prepare contract plans and specifications under the appropriation for the water system.
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