By Pamela West-Finkle
The Andes Library is honored to announce that the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation has awarded us over $225,000 toward our handicap compliance and efficiency renovation project, enabling us to finally launch the construction phase of our project. This money will be used to match the funds we have already received from the State Library Construction Aid, as well as other awards we expect to receive in the coming months from two other regional foundations and Senator Seward’s $50,000 DASNY appropriation. The actual project cost bids came in higher than we expected from our engineer’s fair cost estimates, so we are ever so grateful the O’Connor Foundation was able to contribute the additional funds needed to make this project happen.
We are also grateful to the Town of Andes which has been supportive of this project from the beginning. We are so grateful for the support of our patrons, supporters, and benefactors who helped us build the capital reserves so that the library was able to make a contribution toward the project as well.
So, the big move is finally here! Hopefully by the time this news is reaching you through the Gazette, we will already be getting settled into our new temporary home at 454 Lower Main Street, formerly the Blink Gallery at the T-intersection in town. At the time of this writing, I am not sure exactly when we will be able to open the new temporary location, but I am hoping by Monday, October 7th.
On Saturday, October 5th, members of the Upsilon Delta Epsilon and Tri-Altelier Fraternities from SUNY Delhi will be putting in some community service hours assisting us with moving the rest of the books and other first floor library materials to the CitiHope warehouse space starting at 10 am. We could use someone with a fork lift and pallets or a pickup truck or flatbed trailer to help transport boxes. If you are interested in helping that day or even the week before, please contact the library at 845-676-3333 or an.ill@4cls.org.
We plan to be at the temporary location until late spring/early summer 2020. As previously mentioned in last month’s Library Notes, we are bringing only a portion of our book collection and are happy to order whatever books our patrons desire through the www.4cls.org website. We will have our entire movie, audio, and local author/history collection on hand. Regular groups such as the Stitch Witches and LitWits Book Group will still meet at their regularly scheduled times once we reopen, and I am anticipating at this time that the first Thursday of the month book club meeting in October will take place at the new location, even if we’re not officially open to the public yet.
We will move the drop box to the porch at Blink and any late fees on late returned items will be forgiven during our move, so please hang onto your materials until we’ve reopened. Also, we will be taking absolutely NO donations while we are at our temporary location as we will not have the space.
One new thing you may notice before the library parking lot is completely overrun with construction equipment, is that an Electric Vehicle charge station has been installed next to the spring house. There will be no charge to use the charge station, which will charge electric or hybrid cars much faster than a regular plug; however, you will be required to download an app on your phone to be able to use the charge station.
Lastly, the library is traditionally the “last stop” for the school’s Halloween parade, so we would love to still invite the children and families to visit us at the new temporary library. I am not exactly sure when I will be out for my shoulder surgery, so I may or may not see you on Halloween night, but the library will be open until 7 pm on Thursday, October 31st and we will have treats for the kids.~