We need to buy our building because the arrangement with the town and
school district has lead to us trying to raise grant money to do things to
the building like fix leaky roofs and replace cracking floor tiles and put
in air conditioning, that should be on the taxpayers dime because they own
the building, but the town is having a little hissy fit about. We’re also
having to stand in the parking lot during school dismissal because parents
want to block the 3 parking spaces for the library because it’s closer to
picking up their kids. So, to be honest, our library needs to either be
deeded that building from the town so we can bring the maintenance
up-to-date, or find the funding to purchase land and buy a new building,
and unfortunately, it just won’t be within walking distance of half the
schools in the district anymore. We keep fighting the good fight, and I
have a great story about a town councilman‘s response to us about how we
should have spent grant money, when really all it would have done would
have been to alleviate the town having to pay for a new roof for the
building.

Would be great to have funding dedicated to library housing.

Best,
Ellen

On Tue, Feb 28, 2023 at 1:42 PM MLA Vice President <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Good afternoon,
>
> Lori Fisher (MSL), Marijke Visser (MSL), any myself (MLA) are heading down
> to DC to meet with federal legislators to advocate for libraries.
>
> When discussing federal funding, it will be handy to have a few stories
> from Maine libraries to share on infrastructure needs.
>
> Last time I put out this ask I heard from libraries whose programming has
> grown so popular they outgrew their meeting room spaces (community hubs!),
> ADA compliance issues, sustainability, and greening your library issues.
>
> If you have an infrastructure need you are looking to fund, I would love to
> hear your story and bring it to DC with me.
>
> Thanks in advance~
>
> Best,
> Sonya
>
> --
> *Sonya Durney, MLIS*
>
>
> Vice President || Maine Library Association
> Scholarly Communication Research & Teaching Librarian || University of New
> England
> Cell: (207) 347-1870
> Zoom: https://une.zoom.us/my/sdurney
> Connect on LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sonya-durney/12/672/501/>
>
-- 
Ellen Bradley
Director
Turner Public Library
207-225-2030
www.turnerpubliclibrary.org

*Books are just the beginning...*