Our view: Dunham library needs its friends

AT ISSUE: Officials, volunteers must work together to resolve controversy

Posted Aug 09, 2010 @ 09:00 PM

The tiff going on between Whitesboro’s Dunham Public Library officials and library volunteers needs to end. The community cannot afford the consequences.

Library officials and volunteers who raise money for the facility — Friends of the Library — have recently been spatting over a major fundraising policy. For about 25 years, the volunteers have conducted book sales and have accepted bequests on behalf of the library, but last week, the Dunham board of trustees established a policy that could limit the number of books the group can sell.

Earlier, the Friends’ vice president, Vincent McEvoy, said that the group might disband if the new policy was approved. That’s scheduled to be discussed at the group’s Aug. 19 meeting.

Please, stay friends. The good people who support libraries through their volunteer efforts — at Dunham or anywhere else — are vital partners when it comes to these wonderful community facilities. History shows that governments aren’t likely to be big supporters of libraries — library funding is one of the first things cut from municipal budgets — and that means that if our libraries are to survive and thrive, solid community support is critical.

And survive they must. Since ancient times, the public library has been the soul of communities. And despite vast changes in technology and the way we gather and disseminate information, libraries remain a fulcrum on which our future as a learned nation rests.

Libraries touch everyone. For children, the library can unlock doors to places they otherwise might never explore, and can instill in them a sense of wonder and curiosity. For teenagers, libraries can help blaze a trail to opportunity, and despite the Internet, stand firm as a treasury of resources that provide the key to unlock knowledge. For adults, the library is a sanctuary that provides a sound respite for those looking for yesterday’s newspaper or tomorrow’s best-seller. And programs, many of which are offered by well-trained library staffers, reach out to people of all ages.

Just as important is the transparency that needs to exist between the library and the community it serves. Dunham trustees must remember that they are elected by the taxpayers in the Whitesboro school district, and that the library budget is largely comprised through a tax levy. That means the public has every right to know what’s going on so they can maintain the trust and support necessary for the library to exist.

We would be lost without our libraries. Unfortunately, personalities and egos too often figure into what otherwise is designed to be well-intentioned efforts, and the friction can undermine purpose. That must not happen. As Dunham library Director Judith Jerome said: “We are all the library. We all have the best, and only the best, wishes for the library at heart and that working together is way, way better than all this angst and adversity.”

Calm, cool minds must prevail. Dunham staffers, trustees and volunteers must do what libraries can do best — communicate — so they can resolve this issue. If they do not, the community is sure to suffer.