Smile, You’re at the Cape May County Library

We often take many things for granted throughout our lives: our faith, our parents, our teachers, our national defense, our public servants… But we usually seem to realize that we have overlooked the importance of those influences and dynamics as we grow in age, and hopefully in wisdom.
However, some services that have always been with us never seem to overcome our collective indifference. Ben Franklin would be unhappy to learn that our libraries are a frontrunner among those ignored orphans of our society. But Franklin, largely credited with instituting the American library system, would likely consider the Cape May County Library as one of his success stories.
“Last year, 656,000 people used the library,” said Deb Poillon, Cape May County’s library director. “We lend out more than half-a-million books per year. So although we constantly hear that books are going out of favor, people are using the library more.”
To keep up with growing demand and growing appreciation of the written word, the county library has initiated some major building and renovation projects in recent years.
“We renovated the Cape May, Upper, and Lower Township branches last year,” Poillon noted. “And completely new buildings are going up in Sea Isle and Stone Harbor.”
Those renovations have meant adding 2,500 square feet to Lower’s branch (the most used library in the county next to headquarters), including study rooms, a meeting room, shelving, reading area, roof, lighting and a new heat/air-conditioning system.
Sea Isle’s branch should be complete in the fall, according to Poillon, and Stone Harbor hopes to break ground on their library by July.
“Both of those branches will have beautiful views,” Poillon said. “Stone Harbor’s will be on the beach, and Sea Isle’s will have a back-bay setting.”
The Stone Harbor branch has lagged behind the others, but not because of county action. Indeed, the county has been fighting to begin the Stone Harbor branch for two years.
“The DEP ruling has caused delay,’ said Steve O’Connor, county administrator and clerk of the Board of Chosen Freeholders. “They had maintained that the building must be one-and-a-half times its size away from the bulkhead. It’s a scenic regulation. The county appealed because we want to put the building where the people of Stone Harbor prefer it. We thought the DEP’s location was impractical, and the previous administration (in Trenton) wouldn’t budge.
“Under the new administration, however, the DEP has agreed with the county’s contention that the regulation should not apply to public buildings. The (new) DEP acknowledges that the old rule was impractical.”
So the county is now simply waiting for the formal ruling that will exempt public facilities.
“The project goes out on bid next month (May),” said O’Connor, “and we hope to break ground in July.”
Like the Sea Isle City construction, the new Stone Harbor branch will be a “Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building, erected as efficiently as possible by using a geo-thermal heating/air-conditioning system, recycled material, and even low-emission carpeting.
Also, the headquarters branch in Court House will undergo some renovation, due to a need for more internal space and more parking.
“We run about 1,200 programs yearly, county-wide,” explained Poillon, “and many of those are held at headquarters.”
Last year 23,000 patrons attended county library programs, such as yoga, exercise, cooking, art, nature, computer classes, and even video game tournaments.
If you’ve allowed yourself to become unfamiliar with today’s library because you feel you’ve moved on from those dusty stacks of your childhood, you should take a look at what Cape May County libraries offer.
“Some people have dropped their Internet service due to economic conditions, and many employers want you to apply for jobs online; well, you can do so at the library,” said Poillon. “And we now have wireless.”
Poillon does note that the library spends less today on purchasing reference material since they can subscribe to online data bases which are constantly updated. And they are now starting to buy e-books and also exploring free e-book sites.
“People like coming to the library,” she said. “Our staff is dynamite — helpful and friendly. And there’s more to research than just sitting at home and looking at your laptop.
“I heard something in the supermarket last week,” she continued. “A teenager turned to her mother and said, ‘After this, can we please go to the library?’ That really made me smile!”