USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Town annual report of Andover 1955-1959 > Part 52
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Baxter, Leona M.
Baxter, Margaret E.
5 Stratford Road
345 River Road 19 West Wind Road High Plain Road
Boutwell, Everett S.
Salesman
Fun. Director Foreman
Butler, Carolyn P.
Asst. Mgr. Housewife Housewife Cashier
Collins, William F.
P. O. Clerk Photographer Secretary Shipfitter Accountant Salesman
7 Chandler Road 57 Lincoln Street 29 Center St.,B.V. 390 No. Main Street 64 Red Spring Road 194 Summer Street 98 Cheever Circle 19 Canterbury Street 120 No. Main Street 6 Punchard Avenue 33 Balmoral Street 5 Dumbarton Street 12 Cedar Road 50A Whittier Street 10 Lockway Road 6 Liberty Street 117 Chestnut Street 18 Washington Ave. 30 Avon Street 123 Main Street 4 Allen Street 99 Shawsheen Road 6 Beacon Street 12 Morton Street
146
Davis, Edward B. Denoncourt, Roland Doherty, William A. Domingue, Robert P. Doucette, Lucy E. Dow, Helen P. Dowd, Edward J.
Draper, Ralph L.
Duffy, Elizabeth I.
Dunbar, Mary C.
Dunn, Ruth L.
Dwyer, Wilfred T.
Erhardt, Frederick A.
Fleming, Edward H.
Forbes, Elizabeth W.
Forbes, John M. Forsythe, George Fox, Pauline B.
Froburg, Frank W.
Truck Driver
Gibson, Ralph D.
Gillen, Anna B.
Goddard, Harold C. Jr.
Cost Acct.
Goldthwaite, Eleanor F. Housewife
Gordon, Katherine M.
Housewife
78 Main Street
Gordon, Walter N.
Maint. Dept.
78 Main Street
Gorrie, Everett R.
Asst. Und.
108 Summer Street
Grant, Glen W.
Furn. Maker
Osgood Street
Greenhow, John M.
Retired
124 Main Street 32 West Wind Road
Hale, Luzie J.
Hardisty, Lillian A.
Housewife
9 Dartmouth Road
Haselton, Mabel M.
Housewife
11 Cheever Circle
Hatton, Robert B.
Chem. Engr.
12 Stratford Road
10 Shipman Road 21 Argilla Road
Treas.&Gen. Mgr. 44 Central Street Pur. Agent
Advertising
93 Central Street 66 Summer Street Woodland Road 128A Main Street
Jones, Arthur W.
Knipe, Edith E.
Krinsky, Morris
Lambert, John F.
Sales Res. Ins. Trainee
4 Cuba Street Cutler Road
Leoff, Irving M.
Locke, Arthur T.
Locke, Sherman S.
Lundergan, Charles J.
Lundgren, Donald E. Lyle, George H. Macartney, Robert J. MacDonald, David
Merchant
Retired
61 Center St., B.V. 93 Abbot Street 21 Harding Street 1 Locke Street 347 Andover St.,B.V. 8 Beacon Street 13 Pasho Street
Salesman
Engineer Realtor
11 Lincoln Circle Lovejoy Road Hidden Field
Housewife
Housewife
9 Sutherland Street
Ind. Rel. Mgr.
Salesman
Painter Housewife
37 Maple Avenue Osgood Street Osgood Street
Traffic Mgr.
Text. Engr.
61 Chester St., B.V.
Housewife
17 Appletree Lane
28 Marland St., B.V. 108 High Plain Road 43 High Street 59 Shawsheen Road Jenkins Road
Housewife
Hayes, Ruth Y. Housewife Henderson, Alexander H. Bldr.Contr.
Higgins, Frederick A. Hill, Marion E. Hoffman, S. Joseph Hogan, Daniel E.
Asst.Gen.Mgr.
Retired Housewife
1 Stratford Road
Junk Dealer
41 Elm Street
13 Brook Street
Law, Don B. Ledbetter, Jack D.
Ins. Agent Auto Dealer Clerk Contractor Painter
11 George Street
22 Brechin Terrace
5 Windsor Street 40 High Street
Fun. Director Machinist
18 Elm Street Woburn St., B.V. 274 Argilla Road 1 Upland Road
147
Pur. Agent
Custodian Insurance Foreman Housewife Housewife
Sales At Home
5 Fletcher Street 66 Park Street
Manock, Louise B.
Secretary
257 Andover St., B.V.
Marjerison, Thomas S. Jr. Paymaster Martin, James S. Mitchell, Robert C. Monan, Joseph L. Moriarty, John F. Mowat, Raymond G.
12 Tewksbury St. , B.V. Tel. Co.Tester 13 Maple Avenue Labor Rel.Dept.154 High Plain Road Realtor 104 Pine Street
Murray, John M.
Serv. Station 27 Summer Street
Nason, Lewis P.
Operative
145 River St., B.V.
Northey, Helen L.
Housewife
Rocky Hill Road
Noyes, May L.
At Home At Home
3 West Wind Road
Ortstein, Grace B.
Ortstein, Herbert L.
Otis, Herbert H.
Insurance 27 West Wind Road
Packard, Leslie
Pack. Spec.
75 Shawsheen Road
Pettit, Stephen H. Pike, Walter N.
Operative
82 Pine Street
Piper, Gladys M.
Housewife
29 Canterbury Street
Polgreen, John A.
Insurance
52 Chestnut Street
Pollard, Sydney W. Puma, Antonio
5 Juniper Road Clothing Mfg. 75 Pine Street Chem.&Housewife Alden Road Retired 15 Cabot Road
Rafton, Helen G.
Rhoads, William W.
Richardson, Norman B.
Salesman
20 Walnut Avenue
Robbins, Ralph I.
Mech. Engr.
55 Red Spring Road
Robertson, Foster G.
Bldg . Super .
7 Canterbury Street
Rooks, Barbara L. Russell, J. Elwyn Sears, Allyn B. Seero, Edward V.
Acct. Analyst
29 Chester St.,B.V.
Supervisor
92 Lowell Street
Sherman, Arthur F.
Simon, Walter H.
Sjostrom, Ivar L.
Music Dir.
28 Chestnut Street Car Repairman 35 Hall Ave., B.V. Housewife
Smalley, Bart F. Smith, Geraldine P. Snow, George A.
Sales Repr.
37 Linwood Street
32 Washington Avenue
Sullivan, Augustine P.Accountant
Sutton, Thomas W.
Symonds, Eva M.
Meter Man Housewife Dev. Engr. Housewife
4 Beech Circle
1 Sweeney Court 17 Stratford Road
7 Virginia Road Stock Clerk 7 Andover Street Supply Super. 107 High Street Grinder
2 Brechin Terrace
16 Carisbrooke Street
Webster, Olive E.
Weeks, Clarence H. Weeks, Roland
Housewife Housewife Retired
73 Maple Avenue
66 Chestnut Street
Mechanic
32 Maple Avenue
Lovejoy Road
O'Connor, Charlotte
Housewife Vine Street
Pes. Dir. Vine Street
Fin. Super.
2 Beech Circle
Supervisor
Secretary
107 High Plain Road
Asst. Sales Mgr. Prospect Road Plant Manager 17 Lincoln Circle Retired 12 Arundel Street
20 Johnson Road
Souter, John B. Jr. Stedman, Herbert D.
Watch Repair Florist
81 Lowell Street 34 Essex Street Lovejoy Road
Turner, Eric T. Valz, Erma T. Van Auken, Frederic F.Prof. Engr. Vigeant, Philip A. Wadman, Homer C. Ward, Roswell E. Warshaw, Bernice K.
87 Burnham Road Auto. Salesman 3 Washington Avenue Electrician
148
Wetterberg, Glennie P. White, Clyde A. White, Mildred C. Wightman, Gladys K.
Wilkinson, Marcia A. Wolfson, Henry M. Young, Eleanor C.
Clerk
51 Summer Street Auto. Salesman 163 River St.,B.V. Asst. Mgr.Cafe.53 Chandler Road
Secretary 14 Morton Street 46 York Street
Housewife
Asst. Supt.
Housewife
288 Argilla Road 70 Elm Street
149
Trustees and Staff of Memorial Hall Library
ELINORE L. WASHBURN ALAN R. BLACKMER LEO F. DALEY
EDWARD I. ERICKSON WILLIAM N. PERRY ARTHUR W. REYNOLDS
JOSEPH SERIO
Chairman ARTHUR W. REYNOLDS
Secretary WILLIAM N. PERRY
Treasurer LEO F. DALEY
Librarian MIRIAM PUTNAM
MARGARET D. MANNING, Assistant Librarian, in charge of Readers' Services
MARGARET LANE, in charge, Work with Children, Memorial Hall Library and Elementary School Libraries JEANNE C. WHITE, Catalog and Reference Librarian ALICE L. CARLTON, Elementary School Librarian HELEN HILTON*, Elementary School Librarian MARGARET BERRY*, Elementary School Librarian ELEANORE G. BLISS, Library Assistant II GERTRUDE B. HART, Library Assistant II ELEANORE S. PLUMMER, Library Assistant II ETHEL M. WILSON, Library Assistant II SHIRLEY ACKERMAN*, Library Assistant I PAULINE D. DOWNES*, Library Assistant I
Building Custodian EVERETT T. WARD
* Part-time
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"MORE THAN BRICKS AND MORTAR"
We have been writing annual reports for so long that we often wonder if we are guilty each year of merely under lining the obvious. We console ourselves with the thought that a certain amount of repetition is necessary and that there must be continuity in our reporting since no library program is always successful the first time and since no library year stands by itself.
It is the fashion at the year's end to list outstand- ing world events, the best movies, the cream of the book crop. Often these lists reflect personal choices. So it is with a library report, for no two people would write it in exactly the same way. This recorder sees the following as important events and trends of 1958: the fourth defeat of the library's building project, despite almost uni- versal acceptance of our need for more room; the first observance of National Library Week; the setting into operation of the new Personnel Bylaw; the maturity and quality of library use; the highest circulation of all time, with a possible top of 150,000 as the year's end rolls around.
If these things have any common denominator it is to be found in the fact that the library and its growth will continue. Growth by its nature means change and often brings problems that require effective solutions if the library is to continue to be a strong force in the com- munity and to make a good return on an annual investment, which increases each year.
We have outgrown our physical structure as is well known. We have placed the library article once again in the 1959 town warrant since it is our only way of showing the town that our need is now. Its fate then rests in the hands of our voters, many of whom support our stand; others must be persuaded that our need is imperative enough for immediate action.
The library is, of course, much more than "bricks and mortar" and we have considerable sympathy with those Andoverians who feel that too much emphasis is being put on physical structures and not enough upon the essentials which they house. If we could, we should like nothing better than to turn our attention from the library build- ing to making sure that basic services and program are as sound as intelligence can make them. However, since our building and its improvement is the number one item of importance, we should be derelict in our duty if we ignored its claims.
151
If our need is so apparent, why have we been turned down so many times? This is a difficult question to answer easily. Many factors have contributed to our de- feat: the enormity of capital expenditures facing the town, which only lately has awakened to these needs; the competition from other town departments which present legitimate claims to which the average person has diffi- culty in assigning priorities. In 1958 we felt the force of the economic recession and the uncerta inty surrounding the new property valuations.
The defeat this year was doubly hard, since we had the support of a Citizens' Committee for the Library, which worked long and hard to acquaint the town of the library's needs so that the article might gain the needed support. What image, we wonder, does the library call up in the minds of people who do not use it?
Surely, even for those who make no direct demands upon it, the image should be one of a strong agency so central to the needs of the whole town, that it appears short-sighted not to make it as effective as possible. Perhaps it will help that, as a nation, we are beginning, if somewhat belatedly, to acknowledge the things of the mind.
What will our changes be in 1959? We have no way of reading the future, particularly since any question to be discussed on the floor of Town Meeting can win or go down to defeat, depending upon the psychological climate. There are a few good straws in the wind, we feel: there may be fewer warrant articles calling for large sums of money; the ability of the town to finance this improvement may be better this year; more people may acknowledge our needs; the Finance Committee has seemed to indicate in our several meetings with its members more than perfunctory interest; the Urban Renewal program, far in the future as it may be, may, if accepted, bring so much larger tax yield, that the town will be in a better position to take care of essential capital improvements.
We emphasize again that we are much more than "bricks and mortar." The library is the result of long interest on the part of the town's people, as shown through its generous support of "intangibles" over many years; of the interest and vision of many members of the Board of Trustees, none more so than the present members and the dedication and intelligence of the library staff, past and present.
152
As last year's report was written, the Personnel By- law was an untried quantity about which we had some misgivings. Now it is no longer unknown, although it has been in operation only nine months. Its value is being tested in practice. The library has received excellent cooperation from the Personnel Board whose decisions have reflected an understanding of library needs. The final proof of the bylaw's value to the library will be shown when it can be demonstrated over a period of time that in matters of personnel it can be more helpful to the library than a separate library personnel plan could be.
Considerable thought has been given this past year to staff organization and to trying to place individual staff members in positions where they can put their special talents to maximum use. Some progress has been made in this direction, specifically in the upgrading of three general assistants to the classification Library Assistant II. There have been several other staff changes and it has continued to be difficult to attract trained people. This difficulty will continue, although the profession appears to be more imaginative in developing a recruitment program in which we hope to play a role at the local level. Since this is so, it becomes all the more imperative that we develop a scheme of service that can provide some con- tinuity.
We were unable to find a trained librarian to fill our second elementary school library position; young people, apparently, do not feel the attraction of a small community, even one so blessed with cultural resources as Andover. We were fortunate to find two qualified part-time people in our community, Mrs. Helen Hilton and Mrs. Margaret Berry, whose backgrounds in the field of children's books were excellent. We hope, however, to be able to offer enough in the way of inducements to attract a full-time trained young woman to this position this coming year.
Our professional assistant, Mrs. Patricia West, re- signed in August, as her husband was returning to graduate school. By one of those rare strokes of fortune, we found a well-qualified person in Mrs. Jeanne White, for several years head cataloger at the Watertown Public Library, who joined the staff as Catalog and Reference Librarian, a position which had to be written up and added to the Classification and Compensation Plan.
Two part-time people joined our staff: Mrs. Shirley Ackerman, as a general assistant at the Main Library and
153
the Ballardvale Branch, and Mrs. Pauline Downes to our secretarial and processing staff.
One of the listed 1958 highlights was the first cele- bration of National Library Week initiated to focus at- tention upon book reading and book purchase, a joint venture of book publishers and booksellers in which many public libraries joined. Under the chairmanship of Mrs. Helen Hilton, assisted by a committee of her choosing, a series of imaginative store window displays was undertaken, with the full cooperation of the merchants along Main St. There will be a second celebration this coming April in which we shall hope once again to participate.
It is difficult to prove that the quality of books and materials borrowed from this library annually improves, yet we are very sure that this is so. How much credit the library can take for this growing maturity of use is hard to measure, except that through its book selection signifi- cant materials are made available, and through displays and other forms of stimulation, interest in and audience for them is created.
How can we show that for many people reading is a serious and rewarding business in terms of new insights and knowledge gained; that all age groups use the library, indeed that a ninety year old may read books and other material that would put much younger people to shame; that book reading and choice follows individual interests; that ' teen-agers are often surprisingly mature in their se- lection?
Each year a committee of libraries selects some forty titles from the year's output which, it feels, are the "best" in terms of a general reading audience. That this choice is a far from unchallenged one can be found in the criticisms frequently leveled at it. A study of these forty titles would make a fascinating exercise. To do so would require more time than can be spared yet we have selected for examination a baker's dozen from the 1958 list, knowing that it might be too small a sampling, and perhaps not a true indication of trends which a larger study might reveal.
We shall not attempt to draw too many conclusions from a study of the thirteen titles, representing current issues, significant personalities, the new approach to science, new trends in foreign policy and American civili- zation. Their reading audience totaled 251, with the
154
largest number of readers for a single title, those who borrowed "The Lion and the Throne" by Catherine Drinker Bowen. Three books shared the distinction of having the fewest readers: "The Age of Revolution" by Winston Churchill (a surprise that this should be so!), "Watcher on the Rhine" by Brian Connell (perhaps because of its topical nature) and "America as a Civilization" by Max Lerner (formidable by its very size, excellent synthesis though it is). Women readers outnumbered men by a ratio of almost two to one although, since women are often the providers of books for the whole family, many more men read these books than the figures indicate. The readers ranged from a woman of more than ninety to a school girl of fifteen, and included workers in many fields; a watch- man, a teacher, an engineer, an agency head, a salesman, an investment banker, a radio repair man and many more. One reader borrowed six of the thirteen titles, which may mean that an accessible small display may really increase book use; one person read four titles; several, two and three; the majority, only one of the thirteen. It can be safely concluded that reading is a personal matter and that the choice of books is closely related to personal interest. For example, Janson's "The Picture History of Painting" was borrowed by people known to us for their high interest in the fine arts.
Our reading room is fuller of people than for many years; there is more use of the library for quiet reading; more young people seek us out, due to more demanding school assignments, perhaps to a larger number of book-minded older boys and girls; college students use the library in increasing numbers during vacation periods.
Growth continues, too, in our Children's Room with all the confusion which sometimes as many as one hundred and fifty to two hundred children in a brief space of two to two and one-half hours, in a limited area, can create. Tops of book cases are now thoroughly utilized; more books unfortunately have had to be removed to the basement store- room. Long lines of children around the charging desk, inability to look at books in a comfortable setting, con- tinue to be the commonplace. Some activities have had to be curtailed in order to meet the primary demands of children, parents and other adults who use the room in increasing numbers for book borrowing, reference and con- sultation. A series of consecutive small story hours has alternated with the customary monthly film and story hours. Although the attendance is usually smaller, they tend to yield more, we believe, in the way of heightened book awareness and improved reading tastes.
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Full-time service to the Central Elementary School was possible this year for the first time. Each of the other elementary school libraries was given one day and a half weekly. This represents a small increase in the amount of service available and by that much we approach a little nearer to our goal. This next fall we should like to be able to increase to two days the time that the school libraries are open at Shawsheen, South, and West Elementary Schools each week.
Library displays and exhibits reflected once again our policy of cooperating with community organizations. Special displays were arranged in cooperation with the Andover League of Women Voters, the Board of Health, the Heart Association, Davis and Furber, the Art Department of the Public Schools, to name but a few. The members of the Andover Garden Club made many flower and seasonal arrange- ments for library functions throughout the year. The Andover Townsman exhibit, occurring during National News- paper Week showed graphically how, by offset process, ideas become print.
The library carried on its usual activities: Great Books, now in its seventh year, the series of color slides evenings and seasonal book festivals. Our Open House, so well known as to need no comment, receives it again only because of the unforgetable quality of this year's ob- servance, made memorable because of the speaker, Hermann H. Field, whose account of his Polish prison years, which he shared with us, was transmuted in the book "Angry Harvest" of which he is co-author.
The generous comments of our users are always en- couraging and give us renewed belief in the worth of this institution to the life of the people of this community. One of our former users presented us with a copy of his book "Third Parties in American Politics" most of the re- search for which was done in this library. Someone else tells us that he has never lived so near such a marvelous library before! Another tells how he remodeled his whole house from our books. "Cooperation is always 100%" someone else comments.
The library surely serves the whole man better than any other institution. One day someone may need it for one purpose; tomorrow for another. A library user, com- posite of all who seek us out, can use the library to meet his recreational need - a "who-dunit" or Spengler; to find material about a city in which he is to make a speech; to
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prove a point of etiquette; to find a list of summer camps; to learn more about why his child stutters; to find out how a stock is doing; to get material on some far corner of the earth to which he may be sent on business; to get material on tool control; to select a college for his child; to find out what makes a good site for a shopping center if he has land to sell; how to spell laryngitis, a telephone request which reveals that this was not an academic interest; to find out how to care for rare bindings. One man or woman can make all these de- mands and many more and still be reasonably sure that he will be successful in finding adequate material to meet them.
We are grateful to the Citizens' Committee, to the generosity of the press and to each one of our library users whose own enthusiasm for the library kindled a like enthusiasm in others.
Much remains to be done; a growing institution can never stand still. What would we like to do? In addition to being able to undertake our building expansion program in 1959, our hopes are these: to open the Children's Room the same day-time hours as the rest of the library; to expand the scheduled hours for the Ballardvale Branch library; to initiate a program for Andoverians, 65 and over, alone or in cooperation with other agencies con- cerned with the needs of this rapidly growing group; to develop a useful collection of economic, business and industrial material about our area; to expand our business and technical resources and services; to see and, perhaps, help develop a system of libraries, with the pooling of resources, material and personal, that such an enterprise can bring; to improve every year our reader and reference informational services; to find a system of mechanical charging, along with other mechanical devices, geared to the needs of a library this size to help us cope with the ever growing burden of repetitive routines; to choose an extension service, mobile or otherwise, when it is demon- strated that the book needs of the community can no longer be adequately served by the present system of central, branch and elementary school libraries.
1959 will be an interesting and provocative year in many respects as Andover chooses a Town Manager. We ask only that he continue on the Library Board the same people or their equal and that he be sensitive to the growing needs of this institution.
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The greatest need of our time is for a standard of personal excellence, perhaps not at present raised high enough, as people tend to temporize in a world which seems almost too big for them. We should like to end this re- port with a quotation from the Rockefeller Report on Education: "If we ask what our society inspires in the way of high performance, we are led to the conclusion that we may, to a startling degree, have lost the gift for de- manding high performance of ourselves." We hope that those concerned with this library - and that is all of us - will never settle for less than the best for it.
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-9- 1958 STATISTICS OF LIBRARY USE BOOK STOCK
Adult
Juvenile
Total
Volumes at beginning of year
42,758
13,549
56,307
Volumes added by purchase
1,798
768
2,566
Volumes added by gift
166
18
184
Volumes lost or withdrawn
1,642
142
1,784
Lost volumes found
9
9
43,089
14,193
57,282
Newspapers & periodicals currently received Periodicals received by gift
38
USE
Volumes
% of total Circulation
Volumes of adult fiction
38,240
23.9
Volumes of adult non-fiction
40,742
25.4
Pamphlets & Periodicals
7,907
4.9
Children's Books & Magazines
63,014
39.4
Main Library & Branch
45,126
Elementary school libraries 17,888
Number of adult records
6,741)
Number of children's records
1,216)
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