West Windsor Library, which grew by leaps and bounds in the past 40 years, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its new building on Sunday, October 7, 1 to 4 p.m. Weather permitting, most of the activities will be outside. Minikin the Clown, a former West Windsor resident, will paint children’s faces, Mr. Ray presents a family musical program, crafts will take place in the activity room, and there will be a moon bounce, and refreshments. Faith Yim, the children’s librarian, is preparing a photo display of highlights from the past 10 years and the staff is preparing a display of favorite books. The free event is sponsored by the Friends of West Windsor Library.##M:[more]##
The first library opened in 1966 in the former Christian Education Building of the Dutch Neck Church. Residents were previously served by a bookmobile. An expanded branch opened in the municipal center in November, 1983. Rapid population growth and corresponding increase in library use quickly rendered that building inadequate and in August, 1997, the branch moved to the current 23,”000 square foot building.
“Many of the concepts that were realized in the new building were in the report by the Library Design Task Force, which consisted of 11 local residents and was chaired by Barbara Benedict,” says branch manager Kaija Greenberg. Although she was not part of the design task team, she did have an opportunity to review the architect’s drawings and make suggestions.
Greenberg, who started in the Mercer County Library System as a reference librarian in 1978, left the system to stay home with her two daughters in 1981. She returned as a branch manager in Hopewell in 1986, and transferred to the branch manager’s position in West Windsor in 1991.
According to Greenberg, the most obvious advance over the past 10 years is the access patrons now have to the collection through the system’s on line catalog. Patrons can search the collection and place holds and renew items on their records from home. They may also choose to receive hold and overdue notices via E-mail, and E-mail their reference questions. Through the Mercer County Library System’s webpage patrons also have access to many electronic resources, including EBSCO, Reference USA, Facts on File, Contemporary Authors, LoveList, and LitFinder. Monthly calendars from all nine branches are also on the website.
“Within our building the painting of the wonderful rain forest mural by Ilia Spirin on the wall of the children’s department stands out,” says Greenberg. The model train built in 1997, and recently renovated, in the children’s area, also stands out.
The Friends of the West Windsor Library, founded in 1981, has funded many projects over the years to enhance the library including the train, collection signage to help locate materials, benches and couches, DVD and video drops outside, curtains in the large meeting room to allow for the showing of slides and films, a projector for power point presentations, a lectern, new tables and chairs, and decorative painting in the children’s activity room.
The group has also presented many children and adult special programs, and eight scholarships since 2001. The group’s annual booksales account for most of the donations. Two large donations from the library include Wendy Greeley’s in memory of her father, John Eddinger, which was used to paint the mural in the children’s area; and donations in memory of Jan Trenholm, a book sale chair person, which have gone into the Jan Trenholm Memorial Collage Scholarship fund.
“It has been very gratifying to see the library use increase system wide, including in our branch,” says Greenberg. “The circulation last year was 462,”914 — another record — and the participation in the summer reading program has increased each year, reaching 1,”085 children at our branch this summer.” Participating children read 24,”882 books and reference librarians feel that they are answering more questions.
“We have also been pleased how generously West Windsor youth have participated in our Teen Summer Volunteer Program, which is now also a system wide program,” she says. “In our branch 66 students compiled more than 1,”600 hours in two months, which was an invaluable help to the children’s librarians and the circulation staff.”
Over the years the West Windsor Library has been a host to a number of annual events and community celebrations, including West Windsor Arts Council Film Series and the Chinese New Year.
The public will have a chance to see all of the staff members favorite books at the staff gallery display. Books include any by Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, “Miguel Street” by V.S. Naipal, “The Glory and the Dream” by William Manchester, all Harry Potter books, “Nineteen Minutes” by Jody Picoult, “War and Peace” by Tolstoy, “Kite Runner” by Khaled Hossein, “Hoboken Chicken Emergency” by Daniel Pinkwater, and poems by William Wordsworth.
“Many activities we now offer are the result of the system wide innovations, including basic computer classes in Word, Internet, and Excel,” says Greenberg.
Services that many patrons do not know about include the Home Borrower’s Program, where a volunteer will pick up and return books for a patron who cannot travel to the library. Free notary services offered to Mercer County residents resulted in more than 400 documents in 2006. There are also public computers for adults and children to search the Internet, check E-mail, use Microsoft Office programs, and to play games. A number of new formats circulated at the library include DVDs, books and music on CD, downloadable audio books, and Playaways.
“We have also built collections to serve our more recent immigrant population,” says Greenberg. “Our Chinese language collection includes more than 3,”000 books, newspapers, periodicals, and DVDs; a large and growing collection of Hindi films, and we are in the process of building a Spanish language collection.”
“We now have more meeting rooms, a public kitchen, a quiet study room, the children’s department, which is more separate from the adult area, a much larger reference area with public computers, and more storage space, including a storage room for the Friends,” says Greenberg. “We are reaching the limits of the growth, however; needing to become ‘creative’ in using the space. We are doing a lot of de-selection of older materials to make room for new materials coming in.” According to Greenberg there are no immediate plans for expansion. — Lynn Miller
10th Anniversary Celebration, West Windsor Library, 333 North Post Road, West Windsor, 609-799-0462. Sponsored by the Friends of West Windsor Library. Free. Sunday, October 7, 1 to 4 p.m.
