USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Town annual report of Andover 1960-1962 > Part 15
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DANIEL FRISHMAN
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, Supervisor of Children's Services,
Memorial Hall Library and Elementary School Libraries ALICE L. CARLTON, Elementary School Librarian HELEN HILTON, Elementary School Librarian MARGARET S. BERRY, Children's and School Librarian NANCY A. PENDLEBURY, Professional Assistant CONSTANCE R. SMYTH*, Professional Assistant GERTRUDE B. HART, Library Assistant II ELEANORE S. PLUMMER, Library Assistant II ETHEL M. WILSON, Library Assistant II
SHIRLEY ACKERMAN#, Library Assistant I RUTH BERTHOLD*, Library Assistant I PAULINE D. DOWNES*, Library Assistant I MARJORIE L. JOHNSON*, Library Assistant I
Building Custodians EVERETT T. WARD WILLIAM E. ARNOLD*
* Part-Time
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THE LIBRARY OPENS ITS NEW WING
After many frustrating delays, the library wing was eventually completed. Sunday afternoon, March 5, 1961 will have a special place on the library's calendar of outstand- ing events for on that day a large number of townspeople and library friends from surrounding communities joined with the library Board, Staff and town officials in appropriate dedicatory exercises.
The next day the Children's Room opened for business and has served an ever increasing number of children and adults ever since.
March was designated as Library Month so that as many individuals and groups as possible might have guided tours of the new addition. Normal activities were resumed and special events scheduled including a morning coffee for Main Street business people and a talk, BOOKS, CHILDREN AND YOU, by Dr. Lorraine Tolman of Boston University, for the teachers in the elementary and junior high schools.
The first excitement may now have worn off a bit; children no longer remove their shoes as they did during the first few weeks which seemed to us at the time to ex- press, more than words could, their appreciation of the attractive, new quarters. However, even now it is a rare week that goes by without some delighted comment from a perennial user or visitor.
Certainly the library staff has not gotten over its joy in working quarters which have more than fulfilled ex- pectations for the efficient handling of books and other materials from the time of their order through their prep- eration for use. The librarian, too, has literally found a "place in the sun" in a small office which besides its normal functions, can be used for small staff and committee meetings.
We had some misgivings that our audio-visual room, space previously used for an inadequate office and work- room, might prove too small to be effective, but experience has shown them to be groundless. Actually, an amazing amount of activity has taken place in this small area, not necessarily all at once: selection of records, listening to records, occasional viewing of a film strip and the housing and loaning of our audio-visual materials. We can house something more than one thousand LP records and our collec- tion probably need not go beyond that number.
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New building which involves alterations inevitably shows up other necessary repairs. This past year both the safety and comfort of the boiler room were improved by in- stallation of cinder block walls and an outside air vent. Nearby, the staff room, partitioned off the temporary base- ment storeroom some years ago, was repainted and the floor refinished.
Also, part of a building project is landscaping and new planting. Around the new addition, spring bulbs, coralberry, periwinkle, fire thorn and other shrubs and plants will provide a progression of color. We plan this next year to plant the terraces with juniper to help hold the soil.
A new length of iron fence with a facility for bicy- cles at the front of the building near the Children's Room door will, we hope, cut down on traffic through the library grounds.
An accident involving a glass floor in the Boston Pub- lic Library prompted us to get an engineering study of our mezzanine glass floor. Examination proved the floor to be safe. However, its replacement within five years is rec- ommended. Since we must undertake further expansion of the building very soon, we are glad that its replacement can be made part of that larger project.
We shall probably place an article in the 1962 town warrant to secure funds for reappraisal of our present plans for expansion and for a study of the adequacy of our heating plant. Considerable town growth has taken place since our plans were drawn in 1954. We feel that they should be reviewed as to their adequacy for at least the next ten years. Any other method of expansion, if it seems promising, could be explored also, although we should not want to recommend any extension program which did not make sense in terms of efficient operation, proper rela- tionship of library staff, materials and users, and of architectural propriety.
Because our adult quarters are the cause of increasing frustration, we can not push our building needs into the background, refreshing as it might be to place our emphasis somewhere else.
An Andover resident who made his first visit to the library in his forty years of living here, after seeing
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the lovely new Children's Room, said "But where is your adult reading room?", yet he had started on his tour of the library just there. People who use the adult library library constantly can understand his confusion since the one room doubles as a book service center and an area for browsing, reading and study.
Since the new addition could not help but dramatize our important work with boys and girls, it is probably fitting that this report of library services and activi- ties should begin there. Circulation for the year under any circumstances would have shown an increase over 1960 since during the building many activities had had to be curtailed. Actually, however, the 1961 circulation repre- sents an all-time high in the use of the room. More liberal hours of room opening and the resumption of normal activi- ties also contributed to the gain.
In preparation for opening in our new quarters the book collection was carefully examined for wear and abso -. lescence, many standard titles were replaced, gaps were filled, and much adult material added. A considerable number of books were added to the collection during the year, but so great has been the demand in almost all areas and from every age group, that much more needs to be done.
Much thought was given to the location of the books in the new room as to how they might be divided by subject and age level. Particularly helpful has been the division of fiction into one collection for junior high and one for the middle grades.
Depleted shelves in the areas most used for junior high school assignments bespeak the increased use of the library by this age group. However, lack of books for the youngest suggest that we have gained in users here, too. Indications of this may be the large enrollment in our two pre-school groups to the point where registration has had to be closed since the groups are already too large for the children to get the most out of the program.
With growth, too, comes need for additional staff, particularly at peak times. We hope this coming year to be able to attract a trained librarian who would serve two or three days a week as librarian of the new school on Lovejoy Road and the rest of the time in our Children's Room. Whether the school's opening date is September 1962 or January 1963, the basic school library collection must be ordered and prepared for use in the near future.
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1
1
1
1
With the opening of the new school, we expect that the school library in the West Elementary School will re- turn to its original quarters. The only markedly inade- quate school library in terms of physical plant will be the Central Elementary. We hope that plans for more ade- quate housing will not be lost sight of in the press of demands for new school buildings.
Cooperation with the schools continues to be close. There seems to be more communication between the library staff and the school faculties. Admittedly we may have taken the initiative, perhaps because the gain to us from such consultation was very obvious. However, the more we talk together, the more we realize how much we have in common. One tangible result has been the sending of class assignment slips to the public library, so that we can make more intelligent use of our resources.
Since our last report, we can record improvement in the conduct of young people using the adult library. Others have told us how much pleasanter the library is for reading and study than a year ago.
We are sure, too, that the improved library atmosphere has meant more adult library users also.
Although striking figures such as are available for our Children's Room are lacking, there is little doubt that in almost every way our adult department was a busier place than a year ago.
Like the Children's Room, although book additions were up, there has never been a time when our book col- lection has so literally been "on the march. "
The increase in our 1962 book budget will, we hope, not only offset the rise in book prices, but help us to strengthen our collections, notably in science and mathema- tics. Our reference room is filled to overflowing, yet we cannot afford not to buy essential publications simply be- cause of lack of room to put them. If one single aspect of our service is commented upon over any other, it is the excellence of our book collection. We must see that this excellence is maintained.
Perhaps we have space to comment briefly about adult books which are in most demand. This is based on a recent check of our reserve file and is rather a more quantitative than qualitative approach.
Tt is not surprising, the power of advertising being
6.7
what it is, that the twelve books in most demand here, with a few exceptions, bear striking likeness to the best seller list and to books in greatest demand as reported by some of the large city libraries throughout the country.
Two titles in heaviest demand were hold-overs from 1960: "To Kill a Mocking Bird" and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", both outstanding books.
"Franny and Zooey" and "The Making of a President", high in demand here, were included in TIME magazine's annual end of the year book round-up.
Four titles were Andover's own particular choice: "The Game of Kings", "Pleasure by the Busload", "Rural Free", "The Small Room" and "Who Killed Society?"
The other titles find us quite conformist : "The Edge of Sadness", "The Agony and the Ecstasy", "A Nation of . Sheep", and "Mila 18". Anyone heard to sniff in too much disparagement should examine best sellers of the past.
Here are some of the requests for information: old tavern signs; books on radio-astronomy for teen agers; the building of grape arbors; the osculating habits of camels; export-import regulations for Portugal; the raising of earthworms; the "facts of life" for an eight year old boy; the way people react in time of disaster; the name of the Superintendent of Schools in Pasadena, California; the ten largest companies and their advertising agencies; cryogenics; an illustration for a commercial catalog; the origin of Twelfth Night.
We managed to find answers for the larger number of questions put to us; few went entirely unanswered since we turn to community and other resources when we find our own inadequate.
A public library has frequently been described as a community materials center - a description which becomes ever more apt as public libraries develop audio-visual col- lections. For some time this library has had recordings, now numbering some 700 albums, slides, film strips, and framed prints. With the addition of a tape recorder we hope to explore the possibilities of adding language tapes and recording the recollections of some of our older resi- dents.
The gift to the library of nine microfilm reels of local historical documents by the Andover and North Andover Historical Societies and the probability that very soon, THE ANDOVER TOWNSMAN, for purposes of preservation, would be put on microfilm, spurred us to use money from the
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Andover Evening Study Group to purchase a microfilm reader which could be used by the whole community. This year, we hope to add the microfilm edition of at least one outstand- ing newspaper.
As to THE ANDOVER TOWNSMAN, we have made a budget re- quest for funds to defray one-half the cost of microfilming the complete run. The other half would be generously shared by the present ownership of the paper.
In keeping with modern trends in library administra- tion, two Brodac charging machines were installed as we mentioned in our last report.
During this past year, a publication of some signi- ficance, based on a study made by the Library Technology Project financed by a foundation grant, has appeared and represents the first attempt objectively to set criteria for circulation control and to evaluate charging systems now in use in a variety of libraries. As a result, we shall be able to develop a more intelligent basis for eval- uation of our present system and its performance. At this time we recommend retention of the Brodac machines on a rental basis. There will be many new developments in the near future. If something better in terms of efficiency and economy evolves, we shall not hesitate to recommend a change.
Library activities were so similar to those reported in other years that amplification is unnecessary. Briefly, we observed National Library Week with the focus on our school libraries, heid our November Open House after the lapse of a year, took part in a community observance of United Nations Day with a speaker on the theme AFRICA AND THE UNITED NATIONS. For this latter event we prepared a special list of available books, pamphlets and audio-visual materials.
The opening of the tenth year of our Great Books group was postponed from the fall to early January when the group will decide on how it wishes to proceed.
As usual, book exhibits were arranged around impor- tant topics and events: the White House Conference on the Aging, Mental Health, National Book Week, Africa in the news, Civil War facsimiles, to name a few. A series of craft and hobby displays featured the work of local crafts- men and collectors.
Community concerns brought requests for material and special study shelves: the public school reading program, unaccepted streets, garbage and refuse collection, urban renewal, metropolitan areas.
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Our Lincoln portrait still keeps the library in the national picture for the quarterly magazine, AMERICAN HERITAGE, featured it on its April 1961 cover.
Although there were no major changes in library per- sonnel, the Library Board of Trustees saw one change with the resignation of Joseph Serio. Because of his long ser- vice and enthusiastic interest, we were sorry to have him go, but were happy to welcome Daniel Frishman in his place.
There are no "new brooms" among the senior members of the staff so that it is with some surprise and considerable satisfaction that we report many requests from community groups for book talks and talks about the library and its resources .
Miss Lane and Miss Putnam participated in a rather unusual pre-conference convention in Cleveland last July on the subject THE ADULT AND THE CHILD'S WORLD. Miss Putnam also took part in an adult Book Selection Institute at the Simmons College Library School and last June was elected Vice-President and President-Elect of the Massachu- setts Library Association.
Once again individuals and groups were generous, both with their time and money. We particularly would like to note the following gifts: $200 from the Andover Evening Study Group, $115 from the Futterman Trust, plants and con- tainers from the Andover Junior Garden Club and the gift from a friend of a Japanese dogwood tree.
We should like to close upon a note which we have struck many times before: the significance of the community public library in the dissemination of ideas, particularly in stress times like our own.
A library's collection, rooted as it should be in the best that man has thought since men have recorded their ideas, brings stability and sanity to our personal worlds. Read history and we find that each age has despaired of itself. Ours is the first that can obliterate all life, but perhaps the first bow and arrow seemed as apocalyptic in its time.
We have said before that the uniqueness of a library, public or private, is that it provides us with the oppor- tunity to bring the fragments of our scattered lives to- gether, it gives the opportunity to be ourselves. If it did nothing else it performs a task of the first magnitude.
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This library which we have described may be in rela- tive terms small. Such is our Memorial Hall Library but it does not need to be "small" in its goals or in its ser- vice.
If any goad were necessary to hold us steady and help us go forward, it would be the many friendly, generous comments from our library friends. To them, to members of the Library Board and staff, go much appreciation for help and support in 1961.
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1961 STATISTICS OF LIBRARY USE BOOK STOCK
Adult
Juvenile
Total
Volumes at beginning of year
44,490
15,149
59,639
Volumes added by purchase
2,005
1,284
3,289
Volumes added by gift
110
91
201
Lost volumes found
3
3
Volumes lost or withdrawn
-1,022
-206
-1,228
45,586
16,318
61,904
Newspapers & magazines currently received Magazines received by gift
192
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USE
Adult books and other materials*
87,484
Children's books and other materals* Main Library & Branch
82,589
49,492
Elementary School Libraries
33,097
Total Circulation
170,073
The library wishes to call attention to the fact that in addition to books loaned through school libraries to indi- vidual boys and girls, 17,371 books belonging to the school libraries and the Memorial Hall Library were deposited in classrooms by the school libraries, with each book being used from one to twenty times.
REGISTRATION
Adult
Juvenile
Total
New borrowers 1961
1524
627
2151
Total number of registered borrowers
5349
3406
8755
Circulation per capita (based on 1961 federal census
figures - 17,134
9.9
* includes magazines, pamphlets, records, mounted pictures, film strips, slides, framed prints
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Board Of Public Welfare
During 1961 both Director Arthur W. Cole and Senior Clerk and Stenographer Miss Gladys Brainerd retired on June 31. The Board at this time wishes to express its gratitude and appreciation to them for their many years of loyal service. They were replaced by Mr. Paul MacMillan, Director, and Miss Irene McCarthy, Senior Clerk and Stenographer. Both Mr. MacMillan and Miss McCarthy are on Provisional Civil Service Appointment pending Civil Service ex- amination and appointment.
Our Welfare Board, consisting of three members, is composed of Mr. Joseph Serio, Chairman, Mrs. B. Allen Rowland, and Mr. Thayer Warshaw. Mrs. Rowland was appointed in October 1961 to fill the vacancy created when Mrs. Pauline A. Mayo moved away from Andover. The Board expresses its appreciation for the ser - vice rendered by Mrs. Mayo.
One new service category of Public Assistance was instituted by the Federal Government during 1961. This was Aid to Dependent Children of Unemployed Fathers. This is to set up an emergency assistance program for those families unemployed through no fault of their own, with no personal resources, and not covered by Employment Security benefits. In the first six months of this pro- gram we have had no applicants nor cases to administer.
The case load for Old Age Assistance dropped from 92 cases on January 1, 1961 to 86 on December 31, 1961. A high count of 88 was recorded for November 1961.
The rolls for Medical Assistance for the Aged increased from 11 on January 1, 1961, to 16 on December 31, 1961. This program is designed to serve those 65 years of age or over not covered by medical insurance, whose income and personal property holdings are less than specified limits, and whose children are unable to pay medical costs out of their income over exemptions specified by law. This is the second year of administering this program in Massachusetts and an increase is anticipated based on the past year's experience.
Aid to Dependent Children rolls stood at 5 on January 1, and at 4 on December 31. A high count of 7 was recorded in August, September and October. This program is designed to maintain homes for children deprived of parental support for any cause, and whose other relatives are unable by law to care for them financially. The
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goals of this program are to enable children to grow up with health and family values intact, and prepared to take their place in the Commonwealth as good citizens.
The roll count of Disability Assistance increased from 3 on January 1, 1961, to 6 on December 31, 1961. This program is designed to assist those considered permanently and totally dis - abled to the point of being unable to earn their own livelihood. All efforts possible are expended to retrain those so disabled in order to return them to self-sustaining citizenship. Disability is deter- mined by a State Medical Review Board, and eligibility for such assistance is based on personal financial requirements set by law. Certain relatives are liable by law for full or partial support of such persons.
General Relief rolls, for which the town is fully responsible, increased from 1 case on January 1 to 5 cases on December 31, 1961. the high count during the year was 5 cases assisting 8 persons in April. The aim of this program is to provide temporary assistance for those needy who are not eligible for any category in which the Federal Government participates.
In 1961 we spent $67, 037. 33 out of an appropriation of $78, 450.00 $11, 412. 67 will be returned to the Town unexpended. Of the expended amount, the State will reimburse the Town for $39, 723. 97, which will revert to Free Cash Account, reducing the cost of Public Assistance to the Town to $27, 313. 36. To this we may add $2500. 00 as interest used from the Lucy Shaw Fund, making a total expenditure for the year of $29, 813. 36.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph Serio, Chairman Sara B. Rowland Thayer S. Warshaw
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Annual Report Of The Andover Housing Authority
Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-one was the eleventh year of occupancy of the Veterans' Housing Project Andover 200-1 and the second full year of occupancy of the Housing for the Elderly, Project Andover 667-1.
Two members of the Andover Housing Authority were returned to the Board for five year terms. Harold E. Coleman was re- appointed by the State Housing Board to serve as State Member of the Board, and Thomas P. Eldred was re-elected by the Townspeople.
A hearing was held in the office of the Chairman of the State Housing Board on May 4th, 1961. This meeting was attended by Messrs. Clinton F. Goodwin, David MacDonald, Jr., Thomas R. Wallace, Ernest N. Hall and James E. Manning, with Mr. Fredric S. O'Brien acting as legal counsel for the Authority. This hearing re- sulted in lowering the cost of Change Order No. 10 from $23, 036.23 to $13, 339. 66. This settlement, brought about through the efforts of the local Authority, made it possible to finance Elderly Project 667-1 for the amount of $505, 000. 00 (at the interest rate of 1.67% instead of $532, 000. 00 (turned down by the Authority last year) which could have resulted in a higher rent to elderly tenants.
The elderly tenants take great pride in their flower gardens, which have been enlarged this year with the help of Mr. Robert Townsend. The Spade and Trowel Club take care of the flower plot adjacent to the parking area. This beautiful garden is a source of great enjoyment to the tenants and to all who pass through Chestnut Court.
The 200-1 Project had very few maintenance problems this year One new sidewalk was added and existing steps and sidewalks were repaired at a cost of $445. 00; boiler repairs, $145. 00; six new electric ranges @ $84. 00 each; one new refrigerator, $114.00. A number of counter tops have been covered and more than a third of the interiors have been repainted by project labor.
Project 200-1 maintenance problems to be corrected next year; one new sidewalk; new linoleum in a number of apartments; a number of new counter tops and storm doors.
Mr. Robert Townsend, who superintends Project 667-1, has had very few maintenance problems this year. One contract, to
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correct over-heating problem, amounted to $385. 00.
The payment to the Town of Andover in lieu of taxes, for the year 1961, was $1,876. 00.
Reduction for Commonwealth Contribution for the year 1961, was $6,972.26.
There are 56 apartments in the 200-1 Project: 34 two-bedroom units; 20 three-bedroom units; and 2 four-bedroom units.
The established annual income limit, which is regulated by the State Housing Board, is: for families with one or less minor depend- ent, $4, 500. ; two minor dependents, $4, 700. ; three or more minor dependents, $4, 900.
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