Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Plans remain unfinished on furnishing library

No plans have been made to secure the funding for the new library.

This was acknowledge by Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown. According to Brown, it is too early to worry about the future financial situation of the new library.

The library, scheduled to be ready sometime next year, is currently working with a 3/10 of a mill income. This means, at the current time, there is not enough money to support the library. Brown said the millage increase may be suggested at a later date, but it has not been addressed as of now.

Joyce Gibson, Nevada County Librarian, wonders if the county will be providing any extra funds to support the new library.

The library is currently working with the Friends of the Library organization to raise money for the furnishings inside the new building. If the library raises $75,000 the Friends will match the amount with a grant. So far the library has been able to raise more than $40,000 with $25,000 going to the new genealogy room.

Though furnishing for the new library may be covered, manpower is not. Currently, Gibson said, the library is working with the Regional Libraries. Regional sent employees down to help work in the library and was paid from the state fund. However, since the state funding has been cut, so has the Regional Library employees and they are unable to work with Nevada County as much. This may call for Nevada County Library to stand alone, and hire its own employees.

Gibson said a person who graduates with a masters in Library Science would want at least $30,000 in pay.

She said she would like the community to realize the job of librarian is a real position.

Gibson said, "I want people and the power in the county, to realize this is a bonafide position, that the library is the center of the community. We do a lot more here then just check out books."

Also a worry for Gibson is funding for utilities. The new library will be a larger building, adding more costs to the current utilities.

Without more funding the library may be forced to only be open when manpower is available. This will leave many library patrons wondering when the library will be open to meet their needs.

At one time the library received one mill for support, however 20 years ago the 3/10 mill was passed. Gibson has been at the library going on four years and she believes 3/10 of a mill has not been enough to support the library in more than 10 years.