USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1953 > Part 21
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Briefly, the needs of the Tufts Library are summed up: (1) Study of plans for a new main library building in the near future; (2) Erection of the proposed branch library building at North Weymouth; (3) Addi- tional and much-needed personnel; (4) More new books.
The main library building is more than sixty years old. It is constantly in need of repairs and there is no place left to put more books or give service to the public. The Trustees recommend that the Town consider at an early date the purchase of land and the erection of a suitable main library building. This needs considerable study, as there does not seem to be a suitable location in the vicinity of Washington Square. There is considerable sentiment in the Town for a more centrally located library building. The Trustees have looked at several sites, but are not yet pre- pared to recommend any particular one. If a centrally located main library is constructed, with well-stocked branch libraries in each part of the Town, the present library building in Washington Square could be retained as a branch library.
Another need of the library is for more workers. There has been no increase in personnel for five years, although the library has grown tre- mendously during that period. The Trustees hope that the Town will grant their request for one more staff employee this year .. Service to the schools and the Towns-people demand this.
More books are needed. A library is only as big as its book collection. Many times last year calls for books from the schools could not be ade- quately met because there were not sufficient books on the shelves to satisfy all. The Trustees have asked for a much larger appropriation for books, and hope this request will be granted.
The Trustees have plans for a new branch library building at North Weymouth. At present, this branch is located in à rented building, much out of repair and too crowded for satisfactory service to the community. After school hours, when the children crowd into the branch to do their home work, they have to sit two on a seat to study.
The Annual Town Meeting in March 1953 voted to buy land at North Weymouth for a branch library, and appropriated $1,500.00 for preliminary plans for the same. After interviewing several architects, the Trustees engaged Carl Koch and Associates as the architects of the new building. This firm designed the Youth Library at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, recog- nized as one of the outstanding library buildings in the country.
The Trustees submitted preliminary plans to the Special Town Meeting in November, 1953. These plans called for a building of Weymouth seam- faced granite, with all the best functional and esthetic features that such a library building should possess. The cost was in the neighborhood of $123,000.00.
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CARL KOCH & ASSOCIATES, ARCHITECTS
ARCHITECT'S DRAWING OF THE PROPOSED BRANCH LIBRARY FOR NORTH WEYMOUTH
The Town Meeting appropriated $6,000.00 for complete plans and esti- mates of cost, but limited the cost of the proposed building and its equip- ment to $100,000.00.
The Trustees now have plans and estimates nearly complete and they will be presented to the Annual Town Meeting in March. To keep within the $100,000.00 figure stipulated by the Town Meeting, the Trustees and architects have reduced the size of the proposed building. They have eliminated Weymouth seam-face granite and substituted either brick facing or painted cinder block construction. They regret very much to do this, as Weymouth seam-face granite is one of the most beautiful stones for public buildings, and as a local product we should foster its use. Fur- ther economies were made by changes in the roof structure and by elimin- ating some of the desirable features of the proposed building and accepting some substitute materials. In spite of these economies, the Trustees feel that they are recommending a building that will be a credit to the Town and which will give service to North Weymouth for several generations. They have given this plan for a new library the most careful study, work- ing with the architects to achieve a functional and attractive building, but always with a view to keeping down the cost wherever possible without undue sacrifice of the usefulness of the library. They owe much to the interest of Dr. Wallace H. Drake, the Trustee from North Weymouth, and his knowledge and experience gained in working on the school building program. The Trustees earnestly hope that the Annual Town Meeting will approve the proposed building and appropriate money for its con- struction in 1954.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANKLIN N. PRATT President of the Board of Trustees of the Tufts Library
THE REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN
To the Trustees of the Tufts Library:
The annual report of the Tufts Library for 1953 is a report of growth. During this past year, 4,483 new books were added to our book collection; 2,337 new borrowers (more than half of them children) registered for library cards; and the number of books borrowed showed an increase of 14,721 over the preceding year. This year our book circulation has reached the new high of 252,065 books borrowed by 10,719 Weymouth citizens. In the years since the second World War, the population of Weymouth has grown from 27,957 (1945 State Census) to approximately 36,000, an increase of 28.7%. In the same interval, the book circulation of the Tufts Library and its branches has grown from 162,198 to 252,065, or 55.4%, a gain of almost twice that of the population gain. Each day that the library was open in 1953, an average of 869.2 books were borrowed. Such growth has called for expanded services over the entire Town. On February first, a new library station was opened in the Homestead School. Open to the general public on only one day each week, yet this station circulated 9,993 books and registered 175 new borrowers in the eleven months of its opera- tion. At the East Weymouth Branch, a weekly story hour was inaugurated and in spite of cramped quarters is enthusiastically received. The story hour at the Main Library has been carried on as in previous years.
Special collections for the teen-agers have been developed in the Main Library and the two branches. This collection alone now contains over 3,000 volumes, and the young people are using them with evident enjoy- ment. A large number of vocational information pamphlets have been
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added for the benefit of the young adult group. In our crowded branches, there is no opportunity for this group to have more than a few shelves, but in the Main Library they have the attractive corner by the fireplace for their own.
Expansion of library service through the schools reflects the rapid growth in our school population. 125 classrooms in 17 schools asked for book collections, and 622 honor certificates were awarded by the library to the boys and girls in the elementary schools for reading and writing book reports on at least twenty books from their graded lists. This distribution of library books through classroom collections in the schools is of especial value in Weymouth because our Town is so spread out geographically that large numbers of the children live too far from the library or its branches to be able to use them, and this is the only library service that is reaching them.
Such an increase in demand, however, has been a serious drain upon our collection of children's books, and although we have purchased as generously as our funds permitted, we have had to drastically cut the size of each classroom collection. Our book collection needs to be built up to adequately meet this library service to the boys and girls of Weymouth. In fact, our book collection needs to be built up to adequately meet library services to all age groups in all parts of our library. The increased popu- lation brings a challenge and opportunity for greater library service; more borrowers need more books. At the same time, the price of books has increased approximately 50% during the past few years, so that our book budget does not stretch as far. Books are the life-blood of the library, and to keep our library well and active through 1954, we are asking the Town for a donation to our book bank in the form of a larger book budget.
So much increased activity, so many more books to handle, and more points of distribution to cover, have imposed an increasingly heavy work load on the library staff. In spite of our utmost efforts, back-logs of work accumulate, creating bottle-necks that delay book distribution. The need for additional help is urgent. Our library standards tell us that an addi- tional assistant should be added for each 20,000 gain in book circulation. It is five years since our library staff has increased in size, and in that interval our book circulation has gained 56,158. A year ago we asked for an additional assistant, but the request was not granted. This year we are again asking for one new full-time worker and also for additional page help to relieve the professional staff of many routine tasks. The present situation is crippling to the library service and unfair to the present staff.
A well-rounded and adequate book collection and a library staff that can bring its resources effectively to the service of each individual borrower are the fundamentals of a good public library. However, books must be housed and the physical equipment of the library affects the quality of its service.
There is today a new concept of the place and function of the library in the community. It used to be a store-house of books. Today it is a service unit for the cultural life of the community-it is the only educa- tional unit that is available to all age levels. It deals not only in books, but in the communication of ideas through all mediums: the written word, the spoken word, pictures, music. In this rapidly changing world we are challenged to be alert to changing needs; to be alive to adapt our services to meet these needs. The physical building through which we work can greatly aid or gravely hamper the work we do. In cur case, the service has for many years been hampered by an inadequate and outmoded Main Library building and by cramped rented quarters for our branch libraries. The situation is most disadvantageous at North Weymouth, where the
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branch library is crowded into small compass in a poorly constructed building. Good library service is impossible where there is too little space for books and less space for people; where students crowd around a small table, two in a chair; where there is no opportunity for quiet browsing or reading. Plans for a new Town-owned branch library for North Wey- mouth have been drawn up, and the Trustees are asking the Town for funds for its construction. It would give the Town not only a beautiful library building, but the possibility and opportunity for a wholly different quality of library service for North Weymouth.
For the rest of the Town, a long range library program is needed, providing for a new main building for the Tufts Library, functionally planned and adequate to meet the cultural needs of the Town for many years; for a good branch library for East Weymouth and for supplementary service for all the outlying sections of our rapidly growing Town. The present costs for maintaining our old building are large, and no amount of repairs or renovation can make it large enough or adequate or func- tional. Its usable floor space is only about a third of the space that Wey- mouth should have in its main library building to provide for good library service for the population of Weymouth today, and Weymouth continues to grow.
There has been one resignation from the professional staff and one from the janitorial staff of the library during 1953. In July, Mrs. Kathy Mahoney, Assistant Children's Librarian and Station Librarian at Nash's Corner, resigned. Her position has been filled by Miss Ailce K. Fay, a former Weymouth High School teacher. In October, Mr. John Carter resigned from his position as custodian of the North Weymouth Branch. He had served the Town in that capacity since January, 1946. The Trus- tees secured Mr. Stanley W. Nadell as custodian for the North Weymouth Branch.
This is the seventy-fifth annual report of the Tufts Library. Because the first report was made before the library was opened to the public in January, 1880, the seventy-fifth anniversary of its founding will be in March, 1954, and of its opening in January, 1955. In these years the library has weathered financial panics, two major depressions, and two World Wars. It has grown from one small room with 2,400 books to a large system with two full-time branches, five deposit stations and 125 classroom librar- ies. There are more than 73,000 volumes in its book collection, and it circulated in 1953 more than 252,000 books. During the depressions, the library offered desperate people almost their only free help and recreation. During both World Wars, the library took its small part in defense activi- ties and in book drives for our men in the armed services. The Tufts Library grew rapidly in its early years, then more moderately until the great depression of 1929. During the past quarter century the growth of the Town has been rapid, with a population increase of 89.5%. The increase in the use of the library is even greater, and the circulation of books shows a gain of 95.9%.
Now we face the challenges and problems of the atomic age. In the midst of confusions and fears, it is ours to guard and develop one institu- tion that is a heritage of our American freedoms: the public library, with its stores of information kept free and available to all who seek to know and understand, to keep their minds clear and their judgment true.
Respectfully submitted,
CHRISTINE E. EVARTS Town Librarian
263
GIFTS OF BOOKS TO THE TUFTS LIBRARY, 1953
The Trustees acknowledge gratefully gifts of books from the following persons:
Mrs. Edith Aikens, Mrs. Rufus Bates, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Blackwell, Mr. Grover C. Conner, Mrs. Eleanor Cooney, Mrs. James J. Cuniff, The Estate of Clara Cushing, Miss Elsie Eggers, Mr. Harrison Eudy, Mrs. James Ferguson, Mr. Stewart Ferguson, Mr. R. W. Flodin, Mr. Justin E. Gale, Mrs. Elizabeth Grubin, Mrs. Malcolm Halpine, Mrs. Evelyn Hawley, Mr. H. Leavitt Horton, Mr. Max Huhner, Mrs. Richard Jerome, Mrs. Winona Kuze, Miss Myra LaMontagne, Miss M. Lincoln, Mr. Warren MacCallum, Jr., Mr. Thomas MacDonald, Mrs. Gordon McMillan, Mrs. Howard Mc- Millan, Rev. Robert McNeill, Mr. Leo Major, Col. Charles Louis Marburg and Family, Mrs. Herbert Martin, Mrs. Mary R. Martin, Mrs. Myrtle L. Noble, Mrs. Bertha Paine, Mrs. Lila Paine, Mr. K. C. Rathbun, Rev. Walter F. Ribbe, Mrs. Janet Russell, Mrs. Raymond Scott, Mr. Gordon Teague, Mrs. Vernice Tirrell, Mrs. John Ware, Mrs. Clarence White and Mrs. Patricia Williamson.
The Trustees also wish to take this opportunity to thank other public libraries and the various government departments for their publications, and the following organizations and schools:
B'nai B'rith, Quincy Lodge, No. 1259
The Christianform
Institute of Life Insurance
Jordan Marsh Company
Judy Publishing Company
Libbey-Owens Ford Glass Company
Massachusetts Heart Association, Inc., Norfolk Chapter
National Broadcasting Company
Pond School, Grade V Rit Products Corporation
Smithsonian Institute
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey
State Street Trust Company
Theosophical Gift Book Institute
Tupper & Love, Publishers
U. S. Brewers' Foundation, Inc.
Town of Weymouth
Wilcox & Follett Company
STATISTICAL REPORT OF THE TUFTS LIBRARY - 1953
Date of founding
1879
Population served (Federal Census, 1950)
32,695
Assessed valuation of the Town
$87,954,030.00
Total number of agencies consisting of:
Main Library
1
Branches
2
Deposit Stations
5
Schools
17
Classroom collections
125
Number of days open during the year
290
Number of hours per week open for lending and reading
64
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INCREASE
Adults
Juvenile
Total
Number of volumes at beginning of year
51,358
18,886
70,244
Number of volumes added in 1953
2,675
2,112
4,787
Number of volumes withdrawn
1,082
602
1,684
Total number of volumes Dec. 31, 1953 Number of newspapers currently received Number of periodicals currently received
52,951
20,396
73,347
8
104
titles
157 copies
USE
Number of volumes of non-fiction loaned for home use
38,425
53,190
91,615
Number of volumes of fiction loaned for home use
71,174
87,392
158,566
Number of records loaned for home use
1,884
. .....
1,884
Total number of loans
111,483
140,582
252,065
Number of volumes loaned through school collections
48,481
REGISTRATION RECORDS FOR 1953
Number of borrowers to December 31, 1952
10,024
Number of new registrations in 1953
2,337
Tufts Library (Main)
Adult
655
Juvenile
282
937
North Weymouth
Adult
209
Juvenile
309
518
East Weymouth
Adult
159
Juvenile
188
347
Weymouth Heights
Adult
13
Juvenile
144
157
Lovell's Corner
Adult
15
Juvenile
97
112
Nash's Corner
Adult
11
Juvenile
40
59
Pond Plain
Adult
12
Juvenile
28
40
Homestead
Adult
25
Juvenile
150
175
Total
2,337
Total
265
Number of borrowers to December 31, 1952 Number of borrowers registered in 1953
10,024 2,337
12,361
Number of registrations expired in 1953
1,092
Number of registrations void through death or removal from Town
550
1,642
Total number of borrowers to December 31, 1953
10,719
BOOK CIRCULATION - 1953
The Tufts Library
Fiction
Non- Fiction
Total
Grand Total
Adult
27,842
26,975
54,817
Juvenile
61,178
17,757
78,935
89,020
44,732
133,752
133,752
North Weymouth Branch
Adult
18,929
6,310
25,239
Juvenile
9,262
13,210
22,472
28,191
19,520
47,711
47,711
East Weymouth Branch
Adult
13,654
3,698
17,352
Juvenile
5,906
7,526
13,432
19,560
11,224
30,784
30,784
Weymouth Heights Station
Adult
2,988
1,302
4,290
Juvenile
3,324
3,793
7,117
6,312
5,095
11,407
11,407
Lovell's Corner Station
Adult
2,072
805
2,877
Juvenile
1,924
3,261
5,185
3,996
4,066
8,062
8,062
Nash's Corner Station
Adult
1,822
342
2,164
Juvenile
1,719
2,130
3,849
3,541
2,472
6,013
6,013
Pond Plain Station
Adult
2,363
354
2,717
Juvenile
661
965
1,626
3,024
1,319
4,343
4,343
266
Homestead Station
Adult Juvenile
1,504
523
2,027
3,418
4,548
7,966
4,922
5,071
9,993
9,993
252,065
THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE TUFTS LIBRARY FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1953
Tufts Library :
Salaries
$37,580.20
Janitor Services
3,784.00
Books, Periodicals, etc.
6,806.82
Service to Stations
741.91
Insurance
21.22
Bindery
1,175.70
Fuel
-
787.34
Light
607.49
Maintenance
2,551.09
Miscellaneous
2,409.11
Convention Expenses
100.00
$56,564.88
North Weymouth Branch:
Salaries
$ 5,189.16
Janitor Service
788.72
Books, Periodicals, etc.
1,541.04
Rent
1,140.00
Fuel
311.26
Light
62.54
Maintenance
261,23
Transportation of Books
52.00
Sundries
25.38
9,371.33
East Weymouth Branch:
Salaries
$ 4,075.15
Janitor Service
447.00
Books, Periodicals, etc.
1,481.80
Rent
1,500.00
Light
59.30
Maintenance
244.29
Transportation of Books
52.00
Sundries
14.54
7,874.08
Total Expended Balance to Treasury
$73,810.29
363.68
Total
$74,173.97
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Appropriation Account :
Appropriation March 6, 1953
$73,090.00
Income from Trust Funds:
Joseph E. Trask Fund
$358.26
Augustus J. Richards Fund
144.38
Arthur E. Pratt Fund
90.00
Susannah Hunt Stetson Fund
75.00
William H. Pratt Fund
73.45
Tufts Fund - Books
94.21
Tufts Fund - Reading Room
94.20
Tirrell Donation
30.00
Walter G. Forsythe Fund
30.00
Alida M. Denton Fund
18.38
Charles Henry Pratt Fund
13.13
Mary Fifield King Fund
62.96
1,083.97
Total
$74,173.97 EMERSON R. DIZER Town Accountant
REPORT OF BOARD OF FENCE VIEWERS
February 1, 1954.
Board of Selectmen Weymouth, Mass.
The fence viewers report an increase in calls for their services in North Weymouth, but in all other sections of the Town the demand was as usual. The Board is happy to report that there has been little or no need to call upon the Town Counsel or the Board of Selectmen for advice this year. The appointment of Richard Curtin to the North Weymouth area relieved the Clerk of the Board, who had been handling these cases since the resignation of the late Clarence Pratt.
The Board of Fence Viewers wish to extend to the Board of Selectmen and all other departments of the Town a cordial thank you for assistance when needed.
AMY HILL DUNCAN Clerk, Board of Fence Viewers
In Memoriam CLARENCE L. PRATT FENCE VIEWER 1947 - 1951
268
Annual Report
of the
School Department
US
E
T-162
BORAR
VINCER
MASSACHUSETTS
EYMO
T
WEYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS
1953
WEYMOUTH SCHOOL COMMITTEE
William F. Shields, Chairman George H. Thompson, Secretary
George E. Lane 92 Mt. Vernon Road West, East Weymouth 89
Term expires March, 1954 WE 9-1866
Harold B. Nash 33 Carson Street, Weymouth 88
Term expires March, 1954 WE 9-4099-W
Edward J. Howley, M.D. 26 Hillcrest Road, East Weymouth 89
Term expires March, 1955 WE 9-2990-W
William F. Shields 236 Pleasant Street, South Weymouth 90
Term expires March, 1955 WE 9-1610
Wallace H. Drake, M.D.
Term expires' March, 1956
88 Sea Street, North Weymouth 91 WE 9-0450
George H. Thompson 77 Homestead Avenue, Weymouth 88
Term expires March, 1956 WE 9-1501-W
ADMINISTRATION
Elmer Stephens Mapes, Superintendent of Schools 608 Bridge Street, North Weymouth 91 WE 9-3518
Harold G. Olson, Assistant to Superintendent 198 Pleasant Street, South Weymouth 90
WE 9-1185
OFFICE:
Weymouth High School 89 Middle Street, East Weymouth 89 WE 9-1460
Helen G. Tonry, Administrative Assistant and Secretary
79 Chard Street, East Weymouth 89 WE 9-0966
Myrtle L. Rice, Assistant Secretary 56 Aster Circle, Weymouth 88 WE 9-2607-W
Priscilla Dunn, Assistant Secretary 66 Lone Pine Path, Weymouth 88 ED 4-5806-W
Josephine V. Keblis, Assistant Secretary 54 Humphrey Street, East Weymouth 89 WE 9-3777-W
Phyllis Whitford, Assistant Secretary 14 Leonard Road, North Weymouth 91 ED 4-5930-W
Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on all school days; 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. every weekday, except Saturday, when schools are not in session; at other times by appointment.
SCHOOL CALENDAR - 1953-1954
First Term: Opens September 9-Closes October 29
Second Term: Opens November 2-Closes December 23 (noon) Third Term: January 4-February 19 Fourth Term: March 1-April 30 Fifth Term: May 3-June 23 (noon)
273
Holidays: Columbus Day, October 30, for meeting of Norfolk County Teachers' Association; Armistice Day; Thanksgiving Day and day follow- ing; Good Friday; Memorial Day.
Vacations: Christmas-December 23 (noon) to January 4; Winter- February 19 to March 1; Spring-April 15 to April 26.
Opening Day for 1954-1955: September 8, 1954.
"NO SCHOOL" SIGNALS
All "No School" signals are sounded on fire alarm box 222 (three rounds), and are interpreted according to the following schedule:
7:15 a.m. No school all day All schools
7:45 a.m. No school all day
All schools, except High, Junior Annex, and South Junior High Schools
11:30 a.m. No afternoon session
All schools, except High, Junior Annex, and South Junior High Schools
NOTE: Junior Manual Arts classes are considered elementary and not a part of the Junior Annex.
In addition to the fire alarm signal, announcement will be made over Radio Stations WJDA and WNAC. Parents and pupils are urged to listen for the fire alarm and radio announcements and to refrain from telephon- ing the broadcasting stations and school officials, as telephone lines should be kept free for necessary calls.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Meetings of the Committee
Regular meetings of the School Committee are held on the first Tues- day of each month at the High School Building at 8:00 p.m.
Entrance Age
No child shall be admitted to school in September unless he or she has reached the age of five years on or before the first day of April preceding.
A birth certificate is required for entrance to the first grade.
Children entering for the first time will be admitted only during the first two weeks of school.
Vaccination
No child shall be allowed to enter the first grade without a certificate of successful vaccination.
Employment Certificates
Employment certificates, educational certificates, and newsboys' badges are issued at the office of the Superintendent of Schools in the High School Building from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. every weekday, except Saturday.
All persons must make personal application and present a birth certificate.
274
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
To the Citizens of Weymouth:
School building is the dominant theme in every town in the Common- wealth, and Weymouth, a ninety million dollar corporation, has completed or is now working on a total of eleven separate school buildings or addi- tions at a total outlay of six million dollars.
The growth of our school population (a current enrolment of 7,577) necessitating this building program increases the responsibilities of your School Committee in matters of personnel and operation. Our Committee is obligated to advise the Town at large of the anticipated need for class- rooms, as their need becomes obvious, through close check on birth rates, pre-school census, building permits, builders' developments, etc.
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