Welcome to our regularly scheduled programming, already in progress. This is number five in a series of 25. If you've missed any in the series, they can be viewed in our Archives Here, or by Clicking on Columns, Library News / Archives.
Fun Fact #105:
Our co-worker recently discovered decades upon decades of TPL financial statements. It was the first time we said, “I’m so glad you haven’t gotten rid of anything at all since well before I was born,” and actually meant it. Some of our favourite figures? In 1932, the librarian made $600 per year. In 1954, supplies-librarian rung in at a whopping $156.36. Some days it still feels like we’re still working with that budget. In 1981, “Sundry” spending was estimated at $200, but the actual expenditure was $602. You’ve really got to watch those sundry sprees. They can make or break a business.
Fun Fact #104:
There have been 13 Chief Librarians/CEOs since the Thorold Mechanics' Institute (which evolved into our free lending library in 1895) was founded back in 1858. The longest standing was Miss Grace Weeks, who held the title from 1912-1943. For those still crunching numbers, that's 31 years.
Fun Fact #103:
One of our book clubs recently broached the subject of our early (5:00 p.m.) close on Friday evenings. Afternoon closures are actually the norm among the majority of our library friends as this is an-oft designated “night out” and for some reason, the library is not the first place people think of when considering entertainment. We’ll officially never understand people. But it wasn’t always this way. The library used to remain open until 8:00 p.m. five days a week until the mid-‘90s. Our book club participants suggested we retest the demographics today and promised they would be in attendance to prove the stats were there. That’s not really how any of that works, but we appreciate the sentiment.
Fun Fact #102:
Circa 1990, some program brochures were written out by hand and photocopied. No, that's too modern. Xeroxed. In Fall Programs at the Library, there are two crafts listed: Thanksgiving and Halloween. The exact program descriptions are as follows: "Come and make something for the holiday!" and "Join us and make something spooky!” Now, we enjoy mystery as much as the next person, but if we handed this kind of outline to the boss, she would be like, "and that something is . . .” But we don't have to transcribe by hand. So there's more time to iron out those kinds ofdetails.
Fun Fact #101:
The "New" Public Library opened at our current location in 1983. In case you're interested in that sort of thing, we have the itinerary from the day's events. There was a prayer of dedication, tour of the new facility, and finally, a reception. The ribbon cutting was performed by Dr. Don McMillan and Ms. Joan Olley. No indication of the quality of fabric, but we're going to assume from the group effort that it was pretty thick.
We’re really getting rolling now. Stay tuned as we break out of triple digits during our next installment.
