North Adams Library Wants to Connect With Business Community
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The library trustees agreed to vote next meeting to join the North Adams Chamber of Commerce to extend their reach to the business community.
Library Director Mindy Hackner told the trustees she recently was indexing old North Adams Transcript articles when she came upon some from the 1960s and read that the librarian, Ruth Brown, used to hold a coffee hour during National Library week with local business people.
Inspired by this, Hackner invited the city councilors to attend a coffee hour before their council meeting on a Tuesday. She said only one councilor showed up.
Disappointed, the director said she explored other ways to extend the library's reach to city officials and business leaders.
"I have no real way to connect with the business community and I want the trustees to consider us joining the Chamber of Commerce," Hackner said.
By joining the chamber, the library would be part of an email alert system that has access to more than 480 business people and could take advantage of chamber nights.
"I think we need to do this because we don't have a local paper anymore and we don't have any way to do outreach to the business community and show what the library has to offer to the business community," she said.
It would cost the library $150 to join the chamber. This amount would come from the trustees budget.
Trustee Rich Remsberg suggested following the Mayor's Fitness Challenge and maybe host a Mayor's Reading Challenge
"It would be the intellectual equivalent ... it wouldn't have to be a sit down and read a novel kind of thing but people could score when they use library resources," Remsberg said. "It is an attempt to bring people in but is also a way to highlight things the library does other than check out books."
Trustee Joan Owczarski said it could be a good way to engage the community and bring them into the library.
"It could have a point system," she said. "Like you check out a book you get two points or you check out a movie you get one point."
Hackner said she was unsure if the community would be on board with the challenge.
In other business:
• The library also is in the process of being reorganized and all of the new materials will now be in the front chandelier room. The room will also be used for music during the summer, in part to replace the former Music at the Mansion series.
• Hackner said residents may have noticed that the tower on the library has been lit up at night this week. She said the light is on a timer and is on from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.
"Because of all the street lights and ambient light, it's not a beacon," she said. "But it's a soft kind of pretty light you have to be within a block or two to see it."
• The trustees agreed to now hold monthly meetings.
"It would be more efficient so we don't have to wait two months to vote on something," Hackner said. "It would give us more flexibility and allow us to move more quickly. ... I think monthly meetings would help steer this library to a livelier, invigorating space."
Tags: library trustees, north adams chamber, public library,
