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Osterhout North Branch eyeing permanent home in Parsons
Jun 15, 2009 (The Citizens' Voice - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
On a Parsons street corner many summers ago, 8-year-old Dave Magda was playing with a group friends when Joanne Austin approached them with an idea.
"You kids need library cards," said the Osterhout Library North Branch supervisor who prides herself on shirking her profession's "shushy" stereotype.
Magda is hoping to return the favor in a big way.
The North Branch has for decades been nomadic, at least by library standards. It hopped around George Avenue as it expanded and landed in a cramped temporary location on North Washington Street after a fire claimed its storefront home.
Osterhout leaders and a committee headed by Magda now have their eyes on the Abbott Methodist Church, a roomy two-story building on Oliver Street that they hope to purchase after being granted the necessary zoning approval from Wilkes-Barre City.
"It's the only place in Parsons. There's isn't a Y. There isn't a place to go where kids won't be hassled," Austin said. "They can sit on the computer for an hour, or read magazines for an hour. They can visit with friends.
"I can't wait to move in (to the permanent location). At least then there will be room to do a little more."
A fire on July 31, 2007, forced the library to move from its most recent George Avenue venue -- the scorched siding still mars the second floor of the building -- and into space donated by Bob Kovach of Northeast Micro.
Small, far from the neighborhood center and hidden between a gas station, firehouse and motorcycle dealership, the location isn't the best. But the price was right and without Kovach's donation the North Branch probably wouldn't be open today.
"He's our hero," Osterhout Executive Director Sara Hansen said.
The church on Oliver Street has 6,500 square feet of floor space split between two floors, more than four times the current location. The upper floor -- the ground level entrance spills into a landing between the two floors -- will hold the library's collection, computers and reading areas.
The church could accommodate the entire North Branch collection; only about half, or 7,000 volumes, are on the crowded shelves now. About 1,200 people visit the branch each month, and check out 1,800 items.
"It's doable," Hansen said. "It's a big project, but it's doable."
Magda and Hansen estimate the project will cost about $200,000. They are looking for $80,000 in donations and will be staging events to solicit them. A private donor with ties to the Parsons area has already stepped forward with $25,000, Hansen said.
"We're hoping that some of the work that needs to be done can be done locally, just through people pitching in," Hansen said.
They hope to be moved in sometime in January.
The bottom floor, not included in the first-phase plans, could one day hold community rooms, Hansen said.
"I know that people are anticipating and eagerly waiting for us to get a new home," she said.
Schoolchildren swarm the branch after classes are dismissed in the afternoon and challenge Austin and their elders in video games on game days. Job seekers, more of them recently, settle along the row of computers to peruse the digital help-wanted ads. Members of less Web-savvy generations learn how to communicate with grandchildren in faraway states via e-mail. Regulars swing by for book and movie recommendations and to chat with Austin, who jokes she's half-bartender, hearing about school days, golf outings and a consistent smattering of other community news.
"We lost a lot of kids (after the move) who would walk or ride their bikes to George Avenue, and even the older people who liked to stroll over," Austin says, sitting behind the front desk after the post-school rush Friday afternoon.
Generations of Parsons families, like Magda's, still visit.
His grandparents and mother were fixtures in the branch, and his aunt, an author, donated books she wrote and signed them on site.
Austin remembers them all. Magda still calls her "Ms. Austin," and she calls him David.
Magda, who owns Magda's Pizza Works with his wife, at one time thought he would buy the building in which the library leased space.
"If the library didn't want to be there anymore, I'd remodel it to do something else with it," he said. "And my grandmother said, 'Don't you touch that library. Nobody in this town will ever talk to you again if you do.'"
But that was before the fire, before the temporary stay on North Washington. They hope the church on Oliver Street will be home to the North Branch for generations of Parsons residents, grandparents and grandchildren, old and young, including Magda's 5- and 11-year-old children, both library card holders.
nsohr@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052
Info Box
The committee overseeing the relocation of the Osterhout Library's North Branch is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. June 22 in the library's current space at 1021 N. Washington St., Wilkes-Barre. Anybody interested in working on the project in any capacity is welcome to attend.
The library is also planning an event for the afternoon of July 12, likely to be held at the old Abbott Church on Oliver Street to unveil their plans for the church and solicit community donations. More details will be available in the coming weeks.
Visit www.osterhout.lib.pa.us for more information on the Osterhout Library.
To see more of The Citizens' Voice or to subscribe to the newspaper, visit
http://www.citizensvoice.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Citizens' Voice,
Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For
reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or
847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group
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