$75,000 donation opens new chapter for Bridgetown library

By Geoffrey Agombar

Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

Betty Rafuse remembers her friend Joyce Devenney as “a refined and gracious lady. She was such a kind person, nice to everyone. You didn’t hear her say unkind things about anybody... and, I never heard anyone say anything unkind about her.”

The Bridgetown and Area Friends of the Library would no doubt agree. Devenney's gift of $75,000, bequeathed to the organization, will make the group's long-sought dream of a new town library a reality.

Devenney and Rafuse met through the Nova Scotia War Brides Association. “She was a private person, quiet, not noisy like me. She had no children and her husband had passed, so she kept to herself really. But if you got to be friends, you were friends... She was so full of fun! I miss her terribly.”

Rafuse says she was unaware of Devenney's plans to leave such a sum to the library, but she did not sound surprised. “I can tell you, [Joyce] was a great reader. She had a number of books, as do I, and we swapped books all the time. I know she used the library, too.”

Anne Cottenden, chair of the Friends of the Library, explains that the new library will be located in the “Revere Building” on Queen Street, the town's primary commercial street, north of the bridge.

“It was obvious that the current premises were inadequate: with leaks and mould, small and cramped, not accessible to people with mobility issues” says Cottenden. “It just would not do: Libraries have so many programs for youth now. They are centers of knowledge and shared friendships and responsibilities. The new library will have a larger area. It will be lighter and brighter, and all on one level, so 100 per cent wheelchair accessible, including the washrooms. There will be access to computers, and students will be able to access anything they need to know, and have access to librarians who can support them in doing their school projects... A good library becomes a social centre.”

Like the project to build the town's new fire hall, the new library project was jeopardized when the 1/3-1/3-1/3 funding scheme fell through. Previously, costs of such improvements were shared equally with federal, provincial, and municipal governments each shouldering one-third of a project's costs. But when provincial and federal participation dried up, the Friends of the Library refused to give up on their vision. Long-time “friend” John Montgomery marvels at the dedication of the committee's membership, “We have met every month – every month! - and attendance has been steady throughout the last seven or eight years.”

According to Cottenden, the committee has held countless fundraisers from teas to serving at suppers to silent auctions, raffles, and sales of “books” on a quilt that looks like a bookshelf which will eventually hang in the new library. Combined with numerous “in memory of” donations and annual matching funds from the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Friends had amassed over $50,000, not a small amount but not enough to complete renovations when the Revere Building's lease opened up November 1. Cottenden says the group had planned therefore to conduct a major fundraising drive through the Fall of 2008. “[Joyce Devenney's gift] made that unnecessary – not that we want people to think we no longer need their support. We're still hoping to fundraise so we can maintain longer hours [in the new facility].”

John Langmead, Bridgetown's CAO, said tenders were to be issued this week for preliminary work to bring the building up to code and unify its layout. Langmead and Cottenden describe a cost-sharing plan within which the Friends of the Library will be responsible for renovations to the interior library space, while the town will fund maintenance and exterior renovations. The two bodies will share some expenses related to modifications to the deck area, added wheelchair accessibility, and expansion of the existing furnace room to include a washroom and kitchenette. In effect, the town will act as landlord for the property, and as such has decided to maintain a rental office space within the complex, apparently as a revenue stream to offset annual maintenance costs. Cottenden adds that the regional library absorbs the cost of staffing and books.

Langmead hesitated to estimate an end date, but admitted that the late summer 2009 was “a reasonable target.”