Plainsboro Library Director Jinny Baeckler usually has her hands full and her plate loaded with work to do in organizing events year-round at the library, and the summer time is busiest.
This year is no different, except that it will be the last summer spent in the current library. Not only will Baeckler be organizing the programs as usual, but she and other library staff members will be juggling the responsibility of moving.
Nonetheless, this summer will continue the library’s traditionally busy programming schedule, and Baeckler says one of the main ideas this year is to try to drum up interest for a drama program to be carried over to the new library upon its opening.
“We’re pulling together a number of the people in the community who have an ongoing interest with drama, with the notion that some sort of drama might be able to be based at the new library,” says Baeckler. Of course, this new program will benefit from the larger space anticipated in the new state-of-the-art facility, which is scheduled to open in the fall.
The library received a grant to help the staff members prepare the way for the new library’s community room. The grant, from the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission, is to be used for the scenery or props. Work will be underway creating a wall-sized mural that has detachable parts, all in keeping with this summer’s theme and play: “Mother Earth Speaks: Discovery Summer 2009.”
Designed by Rachel Camporeale — a Plainsboro native who now lives in Hamilton — the mural will become part of a play production involving actors taking pieces — which will be designed to look like masks — of the backdrop down and incorporating them into the production.
Camporeale has worked with the library’s Improv and Mime program before. Also helping with the drama program is Plainsboro resident Victoria Kelleigh, who was an original participant in the library’s improv program for kids, and who is now writing and directing plays featured in the township’s courtroom.
Baeckler also has plans to collaborate with other Plainsboro residents, including Julie Donaldson, a former Shakespearean actress who created the library’s first improv class. Olga Talyn, who has had Broadway experience, will be working to develop an adult improv at area locations, and is also among the collaborators on the project.
“Knowing that in the future, we’ll have a space for this all of the time, we’re planning ahead,” Baeckler says. “This is to get the ball rolling. It goes very well with the summer theme.”
The theme will encompass a slew of events taking place from Monday, July 6, through Saturday, August 1. In addition to drama-related activities, there will be heavy emphasis on the Lenape native Americans, nature/ecology, and solar power.
The “green” summer theme will be evident in the annual events also hosted this summer — the 16th annual Egg Dropping contest, to be held Tuesday, July 14, the annual Spelling Bee on Thursday, July 23, and the Cardboard Canoe Race, on Saturday, July 25 off Pondview Drive.
The summer events require registration, but are free to those who participate. Baeckler says registration is required in advance because some of the activities involve supplies that must be purchased by library officials ahead of time.
Drama weaves its way into most of the summer events, including story hours. “We have story hours every day at the same time,” Baeckler says. “We welcome any age — it’s not just for little people. Those are all free as well.”
In the meantime, construction is moving along at the library, and projections have the library building itself completed by June, says Baeckler. However, the move is expected to take two months, and by the fall officials expect to be operational at the library, she said.
Baeckler also says the carpet style for the new library has been picked, and officials are in the process of finalizing the furniture.
“I’ve been in it, and you can get to the third floor now,” Baeckler says. “Yesterday, I saw the third floor. It doesn’t look delightful necessarily now, but the basic structure is very clear.”
The skylight has also been installed, and the framework is finished. The installation of the glass is expected to take place in March, says Baeckler. The $12.4 million library will hold 125,”000 volumes and provide informal reading areas, display space for art, quiet study rooms, 40 computer stations, a children’s section with an expanded science/computer center, a local history room, and community meeting rooms. In addition, it will feature a health education center and independent study rooms.
While officials are excited for the new library to open, the nostalgia associated with the knowledge that this is the last of the events to take place in the current library has been on the minds of staff members here in planning the year’s events.
“It happened when we moved from the little library to this library,” Baeckler said. The former library was housed in the special services building near Wicoff school. “It was pretty hard to do much with 14,”000 square feet, but we did a fabulous job with that little footprint.”
Baeckler points out that the current facility has lost the ability to deliver the library as a quiet place to visit. “I’m basically an academic, and to me, that is something that should happen in a library. I’m pleased we will be able to preserve it,” while maintaining the solid programs that have evolved into what the library offers today.
“We’ve kind of lived a library lifetime,” said Baeckler. “And now we’ll really arrive at an extraordinary building.”
