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I am writing to thank the many people in Bridgewater and beyond who supported the Bridgewater Public Library and its staff during the past month, as the natural consequences of the override failure have fallen into place. We appreciate the efforts of those who attended the candlelight vigil on September 18th, and for the signs and wreaths that were laid at the foot of the old beech tree standing as a sentinel out front. We are thankful to those who gave interviews to the press, attended town meetings to speak on our behalf, wrote letters to the editor to champion our services, sent us emails and personal notes, and brought us flowers and cookies. We are strengthened and energized by your support and friendship. Our library staff is grateful for the warm wishes of the hundreds of library patrons who stopped in to say good-bye and sign our memory books when we thought we were closing our doors. Thankfully, due to the joint efforts of our Board of Trustees, the Advisory Board and the Selectmen, the Bridgewater Public Library is still open for a limited number of hours each week. Although our hours were reduced from 63 in 2005 to 52 in 2006 and now to 15, we are pleased that our doors remain open. In January or early February the library will lose certification, eliminating the option of borrowing from other libraries, and preventing us from receiving state aid. We are no longer able to offer children’s programming or adult lectures, and our meeting rooms and art gallery will go unused. We are severely impacted by our reduced budget. The town of Bridgewater has offered a free public library for the past 128 years, and we plan to continue. With the assistance of our allies – our Friends group, our Trustees, and other advocates of a strong public library – we plan to “keep on keepin’ on” as best we can, offering a selection of fiction and non-fiction, movies and music, reference assistance, with a small staff of dedicated employees whose mission is to insure that members of the Bridgewater community have the right and means to free and open access to information and ideas.
Mary O'Connell |
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