Minutes November 17, 2007

The Library Facilities Needs Assessment Committee met at the Hatfield Public Library at 9:00 a.m. Present were Martin Antonetti, Dodie Gaudet, Sue Gaughan, Harold Green, Milton Howard, Sheila McCormick, Lynn Omasta, Mike Paszek, and Mary Williams

Group members introduced themselves and gave a brief description of their background relative to this project.

Sheila passed out information about the three libraries that we planned to visit that day: Sunderland, Wendell and Leverett. All are new facilities built within the last few years. Sheila relayed more detailed information supplied by the library director in Sunderland who was not on duty that day and would not be available to give us a tour. Sheila also passed out some sample check lists of things to note on our visits.

Sheila talked about the problems of our current building: most notably the size and the lack of accessibility for people with limited mobility. The small size translates to multiple other problems such as overcrowding of materials, inadequate work space, and lack of a place to hold programs.

In the near future, we will visit two more libraries, Meekins Library in Williamsburg and Lilly Library in Florence. Both are old library buildings which were recently renovated and additional space was added.

The committee scheduled another meeting for Saturday, December 8 at 9:00 a.m. at the Library. We need to select a Chair of the group. We agreed that it is important to keep the Selectboard and Hatfield town residents informed of our progress.


Respectfully submitted

Dodie Gaudet