Branch Library Warm, Welcoming, Fireplaces and Cooking Classes

STONE HARBOR – A decade in planning, debate, and opposition, the borough’s new $4.46-million branch library at 96th and Second Avenue is more than a place for thick volumes and quietude; it’s a community gathering place, “sophisticated seashore,” as Karen Lane put it. 
That’s the dream that Councilmembers Lane and Joselyn Rich helped bring to reality. Both were elected in 2012 on the heels of the hotly-contested issue of the proposed library location, on an oceanfront, borough-donated lot between 95th and 96th streets.
‘The town didn’t want a library on the beach,” recalled Rich. “That’s why both of us ran; we felt the people weren’t being listened to.”
Both knew they could do better for borough library patrons who add about $1.4 million annually to the Cape May County Library System. They noted the borough pays into that system about $50,000 less than Sea Isle City, so they knew their words to county officials would be heard.
Committees Had Input
As Lane and Rich sat at a table in the spacious second-floor of the 9,400-square-foot building that opened Dec. 27, they were grateful to committee members who helped detail what the library would be, as well as to county officials for listening to the patrons’ wishes.
As after the birth of a child, labor pains are forgotten, so it was with Lane and Rich as they observed flames flickering in the two gas-fed fireplaces, inviting readers to sit nearby and lose themselves in a novel.
The pair showed a reporter the sliding glass doors that open onto the second-floor deck. There, seats are placed for those wanting fresh air overlooking Second Avenue’s gardened islands and the historic Waterworks Building and water tower.
Both gazed upward to the windowed cupola that sends light outward at night, “like a lighthouse,” in Rich’s words.
“We each had a committee,” said Lane. Rich’s group was Design; Lane’s committee was Programs and Content. In sessions with residents, the council members learned what they wanted.
Lane sought people from each age group so they would have input from a broad spectrum of the town.  The committee included:  Sari Bauer, Nancy Hanker, Mia Donnell, Bill Dougherty, Terrie Hand. 
Bauer was an elementary school teacher and represented the children’s department.
Hand has young and young adult children and could present their views. The rest represented varying age groups. 
“We presented what we expected our library to offer and the services we wanted our library to provide.  This was passed to the design committee so they could put our ideas into the plan,” Lane said.
Rich’s Design Committee consisted of Vicki Bartke, Carole Lehman, Terri Cwik, Charles Tomlinson and Craig Otton.
What they didn’t want, said Rich, was what had first been proposed, a brick structure overlooking the sea with large windows.
Overseeing Operations
Branch Manager Kathryn Ridge and Assistant Branch Manager Tari Ryan oversee operations. Permanent part-timers Charles Markley and Ashley Loveland also share the work. In summer there will be two temporary aides.
Ridge grew with the branch. She was first assigned to the first tiny branch in the northwest, first-floor corner of Borough Hall.
In retrospect that was good, she said, since it allowed her to become familiar with the patrons and what they cherished in their book collections and preferred reading lists.
Since its Dec. 27, 2016, soft-opening, Ridge estimated there had been 200 new registrations, or about 30 to 40 each weekend.
“People use the space for work, study, or whatever they need,” Ridge said. She spoke seated in the Children’s corner of the brightly-lit first floor.
Storytime there is held Thursday from 10 to 10:45 a.m. for youngsters from birth to 2 years old and their caregivers. The reader sits in a tall-backed upholstered seat with words woven throughout.
The library also features free WiFi, a bank of computers, plus newspapers and magazines for every newshound.
Background
Rich and Lane praised county Facilities and Services Director Ann Marie McMahon who worked closely with their committees, and who was the liaison with Architect Kevin Settembrino of Red Bank.
Once all decisions were finalized, and the bank lot secured, freeholders sought bids and awarded the construction contract to Aliano Brothers, for $4.46 million. The firm was the lowest of four bidders.
The ground was broken Oct. 2, 2015. At the time, Mayor Suzanne Walters thanked members of the Stone Harbor Library Committee for their dedication in carrying the project to that point.
When the former Bank of America building was going to auction, the site seemed a natural for the library. It was a highly visible site, within walking distance of the elementary school, next to Borough Hall and could fit while allowing the municipal parking lot to remain in place.
To underscore the community’s acceptance of the library as a focal point and gathering place, patrons have already filled the Wednesday night cooking classes. They watch the preparation of food in the second-floor kitchen. Other similar evenings of interest are planned, said Rich and Lane.
They anticipate the grand opening of the branch to be a part of the Memorial Day Weekend celebration when the beach will ceremonially “open” after the ocean is “unlocked” by Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour.