Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library

144 Main Street

P.O. Box 511

Harrisville, RI 02830-0511

jmslibrary@yahoo.com

 

 

 

November 19, 2007

NEW LIBRARY NETS $250,000 GRANT

BURRILLVILLE — The Champlin Foundations last week awarded a $250,000 grant for the construction of the new Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library. This is the third consecutive grant from the Champlin Foundations, bringing their total contribution to $750,000.

Construction of the new library is now substantially complete, although the doors will not open until March 31, 2008. A Grand Opening is planned for April 27, and the inaugural event of the outdoor Riverwalk Times entertainment series is slated for May 31.

The Champlin grant is another in a variety of outside funding that will minimize the impact of the new building on taxpayers. External funding sources for the $9-million library now total $5.2 million, with more expected. State and federal agencies are contributing, along with several private groups and individuals.

“Working closely with the town administration, library capital campaign committee and Jessie M. Smith Board of Trustees, the Library Building Committee has done a remarkable job of securing non taxpayer funding sources to support and enhance the project,” said Town Manager Michael C. Wood.

“This is truly a community-based project with wide-ranging support from wonderful charities such as the Champlin and Levy foundations as well as individual contributions by residents and local business.”

Details about the new library, along with photos, can be found at the library site, www.jmslibrary.org. Details about the Riverwalk Times series are at www.RiverwalkTimes.com.

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October 26, 2007

NEW LIBRARY EVENTS COMMITTEE FORMED
Smith Board seeks two at-large members

BURRILLVILLE _ The Board of Trustees of the Jesse Smith Library has established a standing Events Committee to help plan, fund, and schedule performances, concerts, and other events with wide community appeal. The events will be held at the new library starting next spring.

The new committee consists of three trustees – and two at-large members. The board is seeking applications for two Burrillville residents who might want to serve on the committee, which will meet monthly.

The committee’s primary mission will be coordination of Riverwalk Times, a series of outdoor movie screenings, plays, concerts and other performances that will kick off in the spring of 2008. Most venues will be outside — on the new library’s spacious Riverwalk. But the library’s community wing will allow for indoor – and bad weather – venues.

The first event will be an outdoor screening of YOU MUST BE THIS TALL: The Story of Rocky Point Park, the acclaimed documentary by Burrillville native David Bettencourt. The screening is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 31.

The board intends to attract talent from throughout the region for its Riverwalk Times series. The series will have a dedicated web site, www.RiverWalkTimes.com, which points now to the library’s main site.

Construction of the new library is expected to be completed before Thanksgiving, but doors will not open until March 31, 2008, following a two-week period during which the old library will be closed for the move.

A Grand Opening Ceremony is slated for Sunday, April 27, 2008. The community will be invited for the program, which will include tours of the new library.

The events committee was established at a meeting of the Smith board on October 18, at which time the board unanimously voted to change the library’s constitution and bylaws to accommodate the committee. Library staff will maintain control of internal library programming.

Candidates for the two at-large members should submit a short statement of interest and a resume. Please drop these materials off at the library, or email to riverwalktimes@yahoo.com, writing “EVENTS COMMITTEE” in the subject field.

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September 17, 2007

BURRILLVILLE _ Accelerated progress on construction of the new Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library means that the building should be substantially complete by the end of November -- some four months ahead of schedule, officials reported today.

The library, however, is not expected to open until early spring, since the 2007-2008 operational budget was submitted and approved by the Town Council before the schedule advanced. Rather than seek contingency funding for the first quarter of next year, the Smith trustees and town officials have agreed to open the new building on or about March 31, 2008.

This unexpected but welcome “cushion” will provide time for furnishing, installation of shelves, mechanical systems testing, data and communication equipment setup, and moving more than 50,000 books and thousands of other materials from the old building to the new -- a task that is not quite so simple as packing boxes. The library’s extensive inventory must be sorted and labeled, and then properly placed in its new home – all with TLC, to avoid damage.

Officials expressed satisfaction with the new schedule.

“I was thrilled to learn the project was well ahead of schedule -- but not surprised,” said Library Building Committee Chairman Victor Antoniello. “There are many contributing factors to the timely manner in which this project is progressing. But in my opinion, it’s the personal commitment by all parties to a project that will be a special addition to our community.”

After initial difficulties last fall related to remediation and preparation of a site jammed with boulders and a century-and-a-half of industrial debris, some of it hazardous, fair weather during the early winter allowed expedited pouring of concrete and foundation work. The pace picked up in late spring, and by summer, it was apparent that the original planned completion date of April 2008 was not valid.

Library officials credit contractor E.W. Burman Construction Company of Warwick, and its subcontractors, along with Clerk of the Works Dan Joubert, with the quickened progress.

Town Manager Michael C. Wood said: “The Library Building Committee has maintained its focus on the project despite the complexities, both project-related and political, and has constructed a wonderful multi-use facility that the community can be proud of for many years to come.

“The Building Committee has done a remarkable job of working through the difficulties and extraordinary challenges of the brown fields site. In addition, one of the key projects instrumental to the redevelopment of the historic Stillwater Mill site is now complete!”

The new library has been billed as the Cornerstone of the Community for its role in helping to revitalize the old mill site. One wing has been designed for use by the public during non-library hours; cultural, educational, and related venues are among the programs being planned. Citizen input will be sought.

When finished, the library and adjacent mill redevelopment will grace the heart of Harrisville, central village in the town of Burrillville. The existing library will find new life as town offices.

Revised plans now call for the existing library to close for the last two weeks of March in order to complete the transition. A Grand Opening ceremony is planned for mid- to late April, a few weeks after the new library opens its doors. All town residents will be invited to the ceremony – which, weather permitting, will be held outside on the library’s Riverwalk. Tours of the new building will also be available.

The library is projected to cost about $9 million, with more than half of the cost being paid from state and private sources, not local taxpayers.

After producing and selling a popular cookbook, the library capital campaign has created of a system of naming rights, outlined in a new brochure that is available at the library or its web site, www.jmslibrary.org. Donors can have plaques with their names put up on a Recognition Wall, with the designation – short story, novel, bestseller, classic, manuscript, masterpiece, folio and epic – determined by the amount of donation, beginning at $100. Other options are available.

Library Capital Campaign Committee chairman Aaron Coutu, who is also on the Smith board, said he is pleased with funds raised so far – and he looks forward to continued efforts and events, including a silent auction and dinner slated for Saturday, Feb. 9, at Crystal Lake Golf Club in Harrisville.

“The Capital Campaign Committee has been working hard to raise money toward the new project to help keep the overall cost of the project for the community down,” Coutu said. “This includes a request to the Prince of Wales for support because his family has ties to the site and Mr. Levy, a Burrillville citizen and patron. So far, the committee has raised about a third of the targeted goal of $250,000. We have received many generous donations from citizens and businesses within the town. We have even received generous donations from as far away as Wisconsin.”

The library staff and Building Committee maintain a construction blog, which can be found at http://newjmslibrary.blogspot.com.

More information – along with a project chronology and floor plans – is available at the Smith Web site: www.jmslibrary.org.

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May 16, 2007

BURRILLVILLE — An aggressive town effort to win government funds combined with an increasingly successful capital campaign has pushed non local-taxpayer support for the new Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library past the $5 million mark — well over half the total cost of the project — officials reported today.

The news coincides with a recent report from the American Library Association that shows that despite the advent of the Internet age, which some predicted would spell the end of public libraries, public library use across America actually increased 61 percent between 1994 and 2004.

Among the major sources of outside revenue are the state Office of Library and Information Services, which will reimburse the town up to $3.8 million in costs; the private Champlin Foundations, which have contributed $500,000; the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, which is giving $335,000 in loans and grants; the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which awarded a $200,000 grant; and the June Rockwell Levy Foundation, which has awarded $90,000, including a just-announced $40,000.

The funds have been realized through the joint efforts of Town Manager Michael Wood, Town Planner Tom Kravitz, the Library Capital Campaign Committee, and the Town Council. The new library is now projected to cost $9 million, a slight increase from earlier estimates caused largely by unforeseen complications in site preparation — the discovery of dozens of massive boulders that had to be excavated and crushed, for example, and the need for a costly new drain.

Wood noted that many of the citizens behind the new library — all of the members of the building and capital campaign committees, and the library board of trustees — have donated hundreds of hours of their time to realize the project.

Said Wood: “A very important aspect of this project is the time and dedication of the volunteers that had the vision and perseverance to see this project to its conclusion. The final product will be a facility that we can all be very proud of for years to come.”

In noting that public library use remains robust, American Library Association president-elect Loriene Roy said in a statement: “Far from hurting libraries, the Internet has actually helped to spur more people to use their local libraries because it has increased our hunger for knowledge and information.”

The new Smith Library will have the latest Internet technology, including numerous stationary terminals and a wireless system allowing patrons to connect to the Web on their own laptops. The Smith Board of Trustees is currently updating the library’s Internet Use policy and procedures to allow for easy use of the technology.

After producing and selling a popular cookbook, the library capital campaign has just entered a new phase with a mailing to prospective donors and creation of a system of naming rights, outlined in a new brochure that is available at the library or its web site, www.jmslibrary.org. Donors can have plaques with their names put up on a Recognition Wall, with the designation — short story, novel, bestseller, classic, manuscript, masterpiece, folio and epic — determined by the amount of donation, beginning at $100.

Naming rights for the road, riverwalk, and rooms are available starting at $1,000. Smaller contributions can bring a donor a listing in the commemorative program book — or “certificate of ownership,” just $25 per square foot “purchased.”

“The capital campaign is moving forward at a nice clip,” said campaign chair and Smith board member Aaron Coutu. “We have already had a number of successful projects like our community cookbook and the vendor and crafts fair we had in March. The committee also has a number of applications out for some large grants. I believe that we will be able to surpass our $250,000 target.”

Town leaders and planners began to realize the need for a new library in the early 1990s, when population projections and other studies confirmed that the present building, with only 6,200 square feet, was already badly overcrowded and would not meet state standards — never mind its suitability for the future.

A series of studies and votes by library committees and the Town Council have moved the project along. Newport Collaborative Architects Inc. was retained as the chief designer in the summer of 2004, after a competitive bid process. Burrillville voters approved funding of the library on November 2, 2004. After another round of bidding, a contract was awarded last summer to E.W. Burman Construction Company of Warwick.

The new library will have 24,900 square feet — including community areas that can be used by citizens when the library itself is closed, and a riverwalk that will be available for outdoor events — and should meet state standards for decades. The project is on schedule for a ribbon-cutting in April 2008, to which all town residents will be invited. The existing library will be used for municipal offices, helping to alleviate overcrowding in Town Hall.

More than a decade in planning, the new library is seen as the cornerstone of efforts to revitalize the Stillwater Mill complex in Harrisville, the town's central village and home of Town Hall, The Assembly theater, Austin T. Levy School, the Harrisville Post Office, and the current library, which is badly overcrowded.

The library staff and Building Committee maintain a construction blog, which can be found at http://newjmslibrary.blogspot.com/

More information — along with a project chronology, floor plans, and Clerk of the Works Daniel P. Joubert’s weekly illustrated site reports — is available at the Library Web site, www.jmslibrary.org; and a print version of the project documentation is available for viewing in the Library’s Reference Room.