DATE: Sunday, May 25, 1997                  TAG: 9705230273

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: IDA KAY'S PORTSMOUTH 

SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM YOUR LIBRARIES?

Do people in Portsmouth want better libraries? And what do we mean by better libraries?

Peggy Burgess, a librarian in Norfolk and a resident of Portsmouth, discussed the future of libraries at a public meeting of the Hodges Manor Civic League last week. I went to hear her because she and her husband, retired Portsmouth library director Dean Burgess, have spent many years of their lives working in libraries.

Libraries are changing, she said.

``Changes in society make it necessary to change libraries,'' she said. ``For those of us who love books, traditional libraries won't disappear, but we'll add a lot to them.''

With so many mothers working outside the home, libraries must help with programs to enhance children's development by planning story hours for all ages, including very young ones.

In addition, she said, libraries can be ``safe sites'' for latchkey children, who can feel safe and protected in libraries.

At the other end of life, people are living longer and retiring earlier in many cases. They need libraries for books, newspaper and magazines - and also for a place to go.

But, Burgess added, people of all ages are looking for ``community space,'' a place to go and see their neighbors and friends, a place to interact with people in both formal and informal situations.

Libraries are the logical place to provide that space. As Burgess noted, Portside is a big, wonderful community space. But it's open only a few months of the year, and it may be closed permanently by the city after this summer.

Public spaces are becoming more and more important for people who spend a lot of time in front of a television or in an automobile commuting to work. They hanker to be around other people.

As Burgess said, people enjoy sitting down and reading a newspaper or a periodical in a room with others.

Libraries, she said, need coffee shops where people can sit down and talk to each other. They need spaces for formal meetings and for special interest groups such as clubs devoted to chess, books or investments.

All of that is where we should be going.

Sadly, Portsmouth libraries don't even get enough money to stay where they are. While many libraries get larger percentages of larger budgets, Portsmouth gets less than 0.5 percent of the city's small operating budget. National organizations say 1 percent of a city budget should be the minimum.

Nor has the city been too interested in expanding existing branch libraries. As Dean Burgess has said, suburban dwellers want good libraries and use them - especially for their children. Yet the Churchland branch library here is 25 years old and woefully inadequate. Manor Library, opened in 1973, is far less than it should be, and the Cradock branch certainly could use more space to become a community center.

What advice did Peggy Burgess offer?

``Let the City Council know your library is important to you,'' she said.

That is very important. In other cities, when libraries have been on referenda, citizens usually give good support for bond issues to build libraries. That's probably because their kids depend on them so heavily for help with their schoolwork. Or maybe people simply realize that the quality of the libraries has a direct correlation to the quality of communities.

Portsmouth libraries are remarkably good considering how short-changed they are in the city budget. But they will not be able to stretch much further. Portsmouth students will not have access to the same material as students in other cities. Portsmouth senior citizens will not find the same amenities that folks in other cities have.

And when business and industry looks at Portsmouth, it will question the values of a city that does not take care of its libraries.

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