By PAULENE POPARAD

To assure that the maximum number of students can have access to a limited number of books, the Westchester Public Library Board of Trustees agreed Thursday not to increase its borrowing limit of 10 books per person.

Instead, teachers who will be requiring outside research on a particular topic are being asked to notify the library in advance so it can put a reserve on certain materials to be used in-house at the library but not checked out. The reserve would last only for the duration of the teaching assignment.

WPL Director Phil Baugher said some teachers have requested to borrow much more than 10 books for their classes, a potential problem, he noted, because one patron easily could borrow all of the library’s holdings in a particular subject area.

Agreed board President John Corso, “The first student can clean out the whole section and they do.”

Board member Sue Harris asked if the material loan limit of 10 books might need to be reduced. The consensus was it did not. Member Sharon Robbins said in this age of technology some students aren’t using books for reference any more.

WPL’s materials-circulation statistics remained strong with September posting a nearly 25 percent increase over the same month last year, and a nearly 13 percent jump in overall circulation year-to-date. “We’re keeping pretty busy,” said Baugher, who credited some of the increase to a continuation of children’s programming after the summer reading program ended.

Last month at least 14,554 patrons visited the libraries and 131,263 through September this year. Patrons have borrowed 258,710 materials in 2005.

On another matter, when it opens in its new location the WPL-operated Westchester Township Museum will include a display of artifacts and documents from the Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary under an agreement approved by the Library Board on a 4-0 vote.

Members Neal Mortensen and Karen Nash were absent and Vern Odom abstained because the agreement, although previously discussed, was presented at the meeting and he wanted more time to review it. WPL attorney Terry Hiestand outlined the agreement and answered questions about it.

The Richardson Sanctuary is three acres in Dune Acres on West Road where William and Flora Richardson, early Dunes preservationists and members of the Prairie Club, built a second home. A nature photographer, he died in 1936 and Flora in 1960.

Hiestand said the Richardson’s Dune Acres home, where some of the materials were located, has been torn down and the sanctuary’s board of directors is seeking ways to make its holdings more accessible to the public. Among the items to be loaned to the WPL museum are photographs, two large framed 1835 Audubon bird prints, paintings and documents.

WPL already maintains the archives of The Prairie Club, incorporated in 1911; the Illinois-based group led excursions to the Indiana dunes, often on South Shore trains, for pageants and hikes, and spurred early efforts to preserve the dunes.

The museum has moved from the Library Service Center to the historic Brown Mansion on Porter Avenue owned by Duneland School Corp. and leased by WPL. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for library and school officials will reopen the museum Oct. 29. Public tours will follow. Installed will be a plaque crediting the Leslie Pratt Trust with helping finance expanded museum operations.

During last night’s meeting the Library Board approved spending --- pending Duneland’s approval ---about $3,750 with Ellis Electric to install four outside lights at the mansion for security purposes, an additional light in an entrance, exit lights, emergency lights, and to replace seven lights with more-economical fixtures in the display area.

Baugher said relocation expenses for the museum are more than anticipated, however, additional products for the museum store such as books and ornaments have been ordered to generate revenue and fundraisers are planned.

In staff changes Kim Piornack, a former employee who lost her position when WPL drastically cut staff following the Bethlehem Steel bankruptcy, was rehired as a clerk.

In other action the Library Board was reminded of this weekend’s Friends of the Library public book sale Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A members-only Friends sale takes place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today.

Also noted was a recognition event planned Nov. 11 for assistant WPL director Jane Walsh-Brown to mark her 30 years with the library system. Nov. 30 WPL will host a dinner meeting of the Northwest Indiana Library Boards Assoc. in Chesterton.

Posted 10/14/2005