THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502140118
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
The citizens of Carrollton, inspired by the success of Windsor residents who brought a library to their community, are hoping to do the same.
Last month's grand opening of the Windsor Public Library followed years of work by that town's citizens, says Joanie Griffin, president of the Friends of the Library Association in Windsor. The library is at 18 Duke St.
Although Carrollton's new library is still in the blueprint stage, the Friends of the Carrollton Public Library has started raising money to furnish the building by its scheduled opening in 1997.
``This library is a dream come true for a lot of people here. It is something this community has always wanted,'' says Griffin, who brought Windsor's request for a library before the county's planning commission in 1992.
``This has been a community effort since day one. A lot of people came together as a unit and worked to make this happen.''
To supplement the Board of Supervisor's $50,000 contribution, the Friends raised more than $16,000 last year, Griffin says. Much of that was used to buy shelves, which the organization's members installed themselves to save money.
Windsor librarian Patti Watkinson-Hancock believes proof that the group's hard work is paying off is evident in library usage.
``Community response has been great since the library opened last month,'' she says. ``We checked out 283 books the first day, and hardly a day has gone by that we didn't have at least 25 people in here.''
That early success is motivating the Friends of the Carrollton Library, which is preparing to kick off its own fund-raising campaign, President Hazel Jennings says.
Carrollton opened its own library in 1979 in a tiny, former real estate company building inside the front entrance of the Carisbrook neighborhood. But the 600-square-foot building no longer serves the library's growing needs.
``The community has grown so much over the past few years,'' Jennings says. ``The library is bulging and bursting at the seams.''
The association has worked with county administrators to have plans drawn for the 5,000-square-foot library, to be built next to Carrollton Elementary School. Final plans are expected to be approved by the Board of Superivsors this spring, but construction probably would not begin until 1996, Jennings says.
``Between now and the time the building gets ready to go, we are going to contact every resident in Carrollton and ask for donations,'' she said recently. ``We believe we can reach our goal of $100,000 by that time.''
The Carrollton organization will use a $5,000 seed fund from the county to pay a stipend to a fund-raising administrator. The person who fills that position will organize the fund-raising efforts by members and apply for state and corporate grants, Jennings said.
``We are going to spread our efforts out to Newport News and Portsmouth in addition to Isle of Wight County. There are a lot of people living in this community that are employees in those cities.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Windsor librarian Patti Watkinson-Hancock said 283 books were
checked out on the first day that the library opened last month.
Since then, at least 25 people have browsed in the library each
day.
by CNB