Community Room for Marion Library
By Beth Hoad  

  'This will be a nice place for community activities. It'll be good for them to finally have full use of the building,' Fisher said, as he measured grid work pieces for the suspended ceiling panels. He and DeFisher are installing these panels in the new community room in the basement of the Marion Public Library.

The space, which will house a meeting room, kitchen, handicap-accessible restroom and storage as well as the new boiler now in use, has been under construction since December 1.

According to Town Councilman Kenneth Hill, with the exception of installing kitchen cabinets and appliances, work is slated for completion by March 1, 2006. We've spent about $41,000 on this project so far, but we don't have enough for those items yet. We really don't need the space right away, but the sooner its done, the better.

Kenneth Hill is shown looking at blueprints, with Library Director Kathy Metcalfe. She is considering several fund-raising options for money to finish the work. Hill said an unplanned additional $800 was spent this year to install Formica, which needed to be done at this time, and the town may put additional funding into the 2007-08 budget for the kitchen work. Metcalfe said there is a small amount of money left in the building fund that might be used for it, but it is not enough to finish the work.

Project chair Gary Lowe expects Carpet Spectrum would be measuring for carpet this week and lighting and ceilings will be installed by mid- February.

Hill explained the rooms could be used for community group meetings, business meetings and seminars, government and educational purposes and other small gatherings of 50 or fewer people. Computer and telephone facilities will also be available to use in conjunction with these activities.

Plans call for an archives case along one wall of the room where several items will be on display. Among those items is a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings regarding the development of the library and a complete history of it.

According to that document, eight teenage boys and their Presbyterian Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Kingsley Norris, founded it in her home, the manse in 1908. The boys - Stanley Allaart, Herman Cole, Burbank and Edward Engert, John Fraser, John Moon, Elmer Morrison and John Rich - raised money by making and selling ice cream and were given books which they put in the hall of the manse. Later, adults in the community began forming a Free Library Association. The new library opened on Main Street February 1, 1910 and they received their Provisional Charter in August the same year.

Other developments followed for many years until it was decided to replace the library that was then located in what is now the Municipal and Court Room next to the Marion Town Hall. Work on the entire library project began in 2000 to replace the former undersized and crowded space with a larger and more pleasant facility in the old Grange building.

As his Eagle Scout project, Dan Adriaansen organized dozens of volunteers to move some 11,000 books to the newly remodeled facility on Union Street in December 2001.

Metcalfe said they would be drawing up policies regarding costs and regulations for use of the room. The community room is set up so use of the facility will not be limited by library hours which are, Monday and Wednesday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 2-6 p.m. and Saturday morning 9 to noon.

For info on using the new room, call 926.4933.

'Library users have been very patient and understanding about the noise and dry wall dust. We call it the Sound of Progress. We're all just thrilled its going to be finished soon,' Metcalfe said.

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