The Lake County Library has requested $1.8 million in funding for the construction of a new library in downtown Middletown. The library would be a joint use project with the Middletown Unified School District to serve both the public and Middletown High School.
The California Public Library Construction and Renovation Board will meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28 in Sacramento. At this time, it will deliberate and make grant award decisions for the second cycle of Library Bond Act funding. The grant process is highly competitive, with 66 agencies asking for $547 million in funding from an available pot of $110 million. District 1 Supervisor Ed Robey is organizing a vanload of people to attend the meeting and lobby for the OLC's support.
An update on the Middletown Library project was included in the Library Advisory Board's annual report to the Lake County Board of Supervisors. County Librarian Kathleen Jansen delivered it to the board on Tuesday, Sept. 16.
"A long time dream of the community for a new Middletown Library is becoming a little closer to reality," the report states, adding that Lake County has purchased land across the street from the high school and that preliminary plans have been drawn.
One of the biggest changes to the library system this year is that it now has its own Web site, www.co.lake.ca.us/ library /. In addition, the library has purchased subscriptions to the Ebsco, ProQuest and Galenet databases -- for periodicals, newspapers and for biographies, literary criticism and other references sources respectively. "Galenet is kind of nice for students in particular," Jansen said.
Databases can be accessed from the county's Web site by typing in your library card barcode number.
The Lake County Library 's circulation figures for the 2002-2003 Fiscal Year include:
- Lakeport -- 90,597;
- Redbud -- 50,000;
- Middletown -- 13,216; and
- Upper Lake -- 8,628.
Since September of 2001, Lake County has been connected to the Dynix automation system, which links it to Sonoma and Mendocino County libraries. According to the report, the number of books the library system loaned out-of-county has continued to increase.
During Fiscal Year 2002-2003, Lake County Library lent 32,662 volumes, compared to 14,873 books lent during the preceding year. It received 17,513 volumes this past fiscal year from branches outside of Lake County, compared to 9,723 volumes the previous year.
Originally published in the Clear Lake Observer American
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