There are a lot of tiny libraries in Vermont, some of them serve communities so small they don’t have a “capital campaigns” option for doing needed improvements. Many aren’t accessible. Vermont just announced awards of over $15mil in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money much of which will help our smallest libraries get more accessible.
In one case, they’re expanding a library so that it can have a bathroom. Not just a public bathroom, a bathroom.
https://www.westonlibraryexpansion.org/
#vermont #libraries
I have inquired and apparently there are two other libraries in Vermont without bathrooms. One of them, Salisbury, is slated to get a bathroom with this grant series, the other has the dubious distinction of being the last one! They do have a porta-potty in the back. Look how lovely this teeny library is.
https://wellsvillagelibrary.com/
More details about the grants awarded: https://libraries.vermont.gov/capitalprojectgrants
This grant project has been written up in the local paper and even though they got the name of my library wrong they did a good job explaining why accessibility in libraries is so important. If I am interpreting what the writer said correctly, the average age of a library in Vermont is 112. Can that be right? I’ll have to #DoMyOwnResearch :blobcatbook:
https://www.timesargus.com/news/local/vermont-libraries-receive-16-4m-for-infrastructure-upgrades/article_9354f860-870f-11ef-b428-332408b12aa0.html
Well I’ve contacted the state library and they’ve given me not just a spreadsheet, but a confirmation that the MEDIAN year Vermont libraries were built was 1912. The AVERAGE of all the build dates that they have is 1919. I have received a very exciting (to me) spreadsheet with a lot of interesting facts and figures.
The average operating income of a public library in Vermont is $160K of tax income and 47K or so of “other” (grants, endowments &c). They’re open an average of 31 hours a week.
@[email protected] oh wow, so 1919 is still pretty old average!!!
AND YAY SPRADSHEET
@[email protected] 1895 in my Southern VT town. I just looked it up.
@[email protected] hm, that made me go “vibes check out” if a ton were from the Carnegie era? 1883 to 1929.
Not just Carnegie buildings but from that era of Carnegies. And or in buildings that took over from local govt?
I would certainly believe it if they said the median vs. the average
But I’m intrigued!
@[email protected] Yeah I mean the actual quote totally screams “AN AI WROTE THIS” because it says “The mean age of the libraries in the state according to a survey by the Vermont Department of Libraries is 1912” Like 1912 is not an age, but I get the gist. I do assume it was Carnegie-adjacent. My library is from 1909 iirc so I bet a lot are from exactly that decade-ish.
@[email protected] that would make it early 20th C, which seems totally reasonable to me.
@[email protected] I got this message! ;)
"451: Unavailable for legal reasons
We recognise you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at this time. For any issues, e-mail us at [email protected] or call us at 802-479-0191."
@[email protected] WHAT! Oh wow, that is ridiculous. Sounds like someone was too cheap to do GDPR compliance. But like… it’s been a minute since that law was enacted. So tempting to try calling them and being like “Yes could you read this article to me?” With the Internet Archive still being pokey I’ll have to queue it up at Archive.is and will drop the URL when it’s processed.
@[email protected] Here it is! https://archive.is/zWYfm
@[email protected] Thanks!
@[email protected] Do you know anything about the history of your building? There are a couple of buildings with the round porch detail around Craftsbury that have always stood out to me.
@[email protected] That one isn’t mine, it’s the Alice Ward library in Canaan, I just love that porch. We have a few buildings down here that look similar (“princess porches”) which are very eye-catching I’ll have to see if I can find out more about it once the Internet Archive is back up.
@[email protected] I can believe it. Not saying it’s correct, just that in a New England state it’s believable.
There may be a very old Library Georg skewing the average age, though.