Addendum: Comments and Questions
Regarding
Rehabilitation Project for the
Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music
Hall
2006
April 22
1)
Historic Bayer Children’s Room - I am very happy to see that the Bayer Corporation has
agreed to sponsor the Library’s historic Children’s Room. It is not widely
known that the Andrew Carnegie Free Library was the first suburban library to design and construct a room specifically
with children in mind! Although the Carnegie Library of Homestead started their
Children’s Room about a year before the Andrew Carnegie Free Library opened,
the Homestead Library Children’s Room opened about two years after the
Homestead Library opened, and hence, their Children’s Room was not specifically
designed and built for children.
FYI—The Main Branch of The Carnegie Library
of Pittsburgh was the first library to start a
Children’s Department. But, again, their
Children’s Room was not specifically designed and
constructed for children. The Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh’s first neighborhood branch
library in Lawrenceville has the
distinction of having the very first room specifically designed
and built for children, in 1898.
Perhaps
some type of sign, along with the sign for the Bayer Children’s Room, could be
mounted to explain this history to the
public?
Also, do you know what has become of the
portrait of Andrew Carnegie which was displayed
in the Children’s Room? It is identical to
the portrait currently hanging in the Reference
Room. Both were gifts to the Andrew
Carnegie Free Library in 1935 from the Carnegie
Corporation
of
2)
Historic Black-Out Blinds - In November of 1999, I had the Library’s historic
Black-Out Blinds reinstalled on three southern windows of the Library’s main
reading room. I placed an explanation sign close to these windows, so that the
public would learn of the historic nature of these blinds. Later, the Board of
Trustees provided a nice glass frame for this sign. However, shortly after the
sign, inside the glass frame, was mounted, it disappeared.
These
blinds are a significant part of the Library’s history. Would it be possible to
remount this sign near these blinds? As with the suggested history explanation
sign for the Children’s Room, this history explanation sign will help Library
visitors learn about the rich history of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library.
Enclosed is a copy of the sign.
3)
Historic Wooden Railings - I have noticed that the two historic wooden railings,
that were constructed near the Circulation Desk, have not been reinstalled
following construction of the elevator and new restroom. Will these historic
wooden railings be reinstalled in the near future?
4)
Historic Original Library Restroom – What has become of the beautiful floor tile and marble
sink (which included a 1901 vintage soap dispenser in the marble sink) from the
Library’s original restroom? Will these be used elsewhere in the rehabilitation
project?
5)
Historic Spanish-American War Cannons – I was happy to see the rehabilitation of the concrete
mounting of the cannon, just south of the Library’s main entrance.
6)
Historic Brick Courtyard – Will the brick from the courtyard be returned as the
paving material for the Library’s Historic Courtyard, or will this brick be
used elsewhere in the
rehabilitation
project? I had noticed that these bricks were being temporarily stored on the
berm, between the Library Driveway and
Addendum: Library
Rehabilitation Project 2006 April 22 Page 2 of 3
7)
Historic Movie-house Seats from Lecture Hall – Were the old Lecture Hall seats, originally from a
borough movie-house, donated to the Historical Society following the
rehabilitation of the Lecture Hall?
8)
Jordan
Hall of the New England Conservatory of Music in
Another
issue, regarding this seating, involves the need for larger chairs for today’s
audiences. This problem has been solved during the on-going rehabilitation of
seating in the Music Hall of the Braddock Carnegie Library. They have “spacers”
to add to each original seat, to make each seat larger. Consultant Mark Fatla
(then Executive Director of the Community Technical Assistance Center, soon to
be Executive Director of the Northside Leadership Conference in Pittsburgh),
who worked with the Andrew Carnegie Free Library at the very beginning of the
rehabilitation project, was impressed with how the Braddock Carnegie Library
solved this problem, thus allowing them to continue using their original
seating. I would urge the Andrew Carnegie Free Library to investigate this
“spacer” solution.
9)
Historic Railroad Locomotive Diagram – This was a large diagram, in a glass frame, donated
by a Library volunteer several years ago. At the beginning of the
rehabilitation project, just before I left the Board of Trustees, I could not
find this diagram. Do you have any idea what has become of this diagram?
10)
Historic 48-star
11)
Historic Library Lights – I was happy to see the reuse of the historic Library ceiling
lights in the Lecture Hall. However, I do wonder whether these lights were not
originally from the Library-proper. This should be investigated. If these
lights did originally come from the Library-proper, they should eventually be
returned to the Library-proper, with similar new fixtures replacing them in the
Lecture Hall. The current lighting in the Library-proper is substandard and
needs improvement. These historic lights, if originally from the
Library-proper, would be a great improvement. Otherwise, better lighting, to
fit the historic style of the lights currently in the Lecture Hall, need to be
installed in the Library-proper.
12)
Historic Windows – I would hope that the existing windows, or windows of a very similar
nature, can be installed during the rehabilitation. They should be double or
triple-pane windows to improve heat insulation. And, these windows should
include a special film which screens-out ultra-violet light; such special UV
filtered windows will greatly extend the life of the Library’s books and other
materials.
13) Use of Real Fire on Historic Wooden Music
Hall Stage – When Our American Cousin
was performed as a benefit for the Civil War Museum in April of 2000 (135th
Anniversary of the Assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln), there was
a dispute regarding the lighting of real candles on the Music Hall stage.
Eventually, this was allowed after the Director agreed to extra precautions.
However, as a Library Trustee responsible for the protection of the facility
and the safety of the audience, I was
Addendum: Library Rehabilitation Project 2006 April 22 Page
3 of 3
very uncomfortable with the use of any fire on a wooden
stage—particularly when synthetic fire-looking, electric candles would have
sufficed. Often a synthetic electric “fire” in a fireplace had been used on
this stage.
Enclosed is a photocopy of a news article, from the
2005 September 6 issue of
14)
No Longer Largest Library Collection in
According
to the statistics on the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall web site,
the Library had 35,772 cataloged items in 2001, but this collection size fell to 22,335 last year. With such a
sizable reduction in the Andrew Carnegie Free Library’s collection size, there
is now a major question as to whether the Andrew Carnegie Free Library can
truly expect to attract patrons from throughout the
The
South Fayette Township Library would have been larger, had their plans for
construction of a new building been approved. However, today their library has
a collection size of nearly 22,000 in a space less than half the size of the
library-proper in the Andrew Carnegie Free Library building!
The
statistics on your “About Us” web page also show that Inter-Library Loans from
the Andrew Carnegie Free Library to other libraries has declined, from 12,803
in 2004 to 9,631 in 2005. At the same time, there has been an increase in the
number of materials, through Inter-Library Loan, that the Andrew Carnegie Free
Library must borrow from other libraries: 5,375 in 2004 to 6,679 in 2005! This
conclusively shows that library patrons are not finding what they need at the
Andrew Carnegie Free Library!
I understand the space problems involved
with construction of the elevator. However, I am
quite disappointed by the extreme
reduction in the collection size of the Library’s books,
pamphlet files, and other materials. As
you well know, Andrew Carnegie was primarily
interested in libraries as institutions
which can help people improve themselves. With such a
drastic reduction in the Library’s
collection, I question whether the Andrew Carnegie Free
Library can adequately serve the needs of
people when information continues increasing at an
incredible rate.
While serving on the Board of Trustees,
I long advocated the creation of a closed-stacks book
room, perhaps in the small room at the
bottom of the staircase from the Library, in what was
the
Library Bookstore. This could never be implemented, due to the water problems
in the
basement.
Once the water problems are solved, I suggest the Board of Trustees seriously
consider
establishing a closed-stacks book room, to increase the Library’s collection
size as
much
as possible.
gaw
