Upcoming library vote

We are reading pros and cons about the suggestion to move the present main Portland library at Monument Square at the corner of Congress Street and Elm Street, to the nearby location of the Portland Public Market on Cumberland Avenue.

I worked at the Baxter library building, and at the Burbank branch. I also substituted at the present library. Jane Burbank was the library director when I was hired. Grace Trappan followed her as the director, and next, Ed Chenevert was director. He made the big move to downtown Congress Street, at Monument Square.

I feel that all three of these directors, who have now passed away, would be very upset about the present plan. Miss Burbank and Miss Trappan would be shocked to think of a cafa in a public library, and of course the present building was Ed Chenevert’s dream.

I have before me several recent newspaper clippings about the proposed move. Edgar Beam, whose column, “The Universal Notebook,” runs in the Forecaster each week, was a librarian at the Baxter building and took part in the move to the “Chenevert Library.” He wrote in a February column that a large majority of the library staff oppose the market move. He suggests that the library could stay where it is and acquire the market building, too – spend $20 million to create a cultural showcase in downtown Portland.

The Portland Press Herald has had a few articles. In February, Kelley Bouchard wrote, “It would cost taxpayers $1 million more to move the Portland Public Library into the former Portland Public Market than it would to renovate the existing location, library officials said.”

She quoted Nathan Smith, vice president of the library’s board of trustees, as saying that the city would sell the existing library for an estimated $3.4 million. The city would be expected to have the building appraised, which would cost about $4,000.

The library would continue to occupy the bottom level of the existing building to help make up the space difference between the 78,000-square-foot library and the 37,000-square-foot market building.

If the public market proposal is rejected, the trustees plan to stick with the $8.5 million to renovate the library. They say it would improve the look of the largely windowless, boxy building, upgrade high-demand services, such as the children’s room, computers and movie loans, update the electrical heating and cooling systems, and add public bathrooms, a small cafa and a retail store.

Well, right here I will write the Webster Collegiate Dictionary’s definition of the word library: “A place in which books, manuscripts, musical scores, or other literary or artistic materials are kept for use, but not for sale.”

The March 19 Press Herald editorial’s heading: “Is library move worth an extra million?”

It said that borrowing ideas from coffee shops and bookstores, the new library would greet patrons with an outdoor patio and an indoor coffee shop, flanked by 90 computer stations for public use. The rest of the first floor would hold fiction stacks, a children’s area with a story room and a yeen area. It warned Portlanders, when they vote June 12, to weigh the city’s options carefully.

The final paragraph said, “Taxpayers ought to be sure that acquiring another building is the best way to meet the city’s needs. The final decision is theirs, as it should be.”

In the current issue of West End News is an excellent letter by Mark Usinger, a Portland businessman. It is titled, “Public Market Insanity.”

He wrote that there is no question in his mind that we will end up paying through the nose when the true costs are revealed for the renovations required for the former Portland Public Market. He asked, “What if the new owner of the library won’t rent the basement back (for the library’s use) for $1 per year? They won’t reveal the appraised value, but they already know that the new buyer will rent the basement back for $1 a year?”

In Usinger’s final paragraph, he hopes that the people of Portland come to their senses by June 12 and “vote NO on this insane proposal.”

Believe me, I’ll be one of the NO voters, Mark, and I have friends and relatives who will join me, also.

A letter to remember

Many parents and children who used the Children’s Room at the Portland Public Library from 1947 to 1960 will remember Mary Elizabeth Jones, who was librarian there in those years. She often visited our family on Hamblet Avenue, Portland. Our children always called her “Mamie.” And she always signed her letters to me that way. Mary grew up in Winthrop, Maine, and kept her family home there. She visited there, too, after she moved to become a school librarian in Wilton, Conn.

On her vacations she visited many countries in Europe. Her trip in 1979 to Japan was a memorable one. Mary passed away several years ago, and we miss her. This is her account of her Japanese visit, which she wrote in a letter in the New York Times:

To the Editor

The letter by Ed Conradson of the Norwegian-Swedish Tourist Office referring to visits with families in Scandinavia (Travel Section, Aug. 12) reminded me of my recent tour of Japan, where several cities sponsor similar programs.

Reading about such visits in a tourist book, “Kyoto Nara and Kobe,” I chose Kobe. Although arrangements can be made on two or three days’ notice, I wrote the Kobe International Tourist Association two weeks before leaving the United States, specifying my occupation (school librarian) and saying I would prefer a host in a similar line of work.

When I registered at the Oriental Hotel in Kobe (with two rooms overlooking the great harbor) I found a welcome-to-Kobe letter from Etsuko Yamabe of the Kobe Tourist Association with an invitation to visit a certain family on the evening I had stated as my preference.

As it turned out, I was later invited for a dinner party at my host’s home at which he and his wife entertained the principal of a local private school and the school librarian. The young man came prepared with samples of his library exercises, posters, and school photographs.

He also brought summer reading lists – all in Japanese, of course – and I guessed some of the titles by the illustrations, “Doctor Dolittle,” for instance. Everyone was interested when I mentioned that the author, Hugh Lofting, had lived for a time in my home town and that his daughter still resided there. I felt completely at home with this group of delightful Japanese.

After a delicious dinner and more conversation, all in English, we took turns playing the piano. Then the principal’s wife played “Auld Lang Syne'”as we made a circle, joining hands and singing along with her in Japanese and English.

I will never forget that evening and the warmth and enthusiasm of my host family and their Japanese friends. It was a perfect “people-to-people” encounter.

I would have liked to know what pieces were played on the piano by guests at that dinner party. Mary called Japan “a photographer’s paradise.” She said that Japan is very different from America and Europe in numerous aspects, such as vegetation, architecture and traditions. She also wrote that in a sudden downpour, a little old lady gave Mary her umbrella, then disappeared with the crowd.

How thoughtful that was, and how unusual!

From sister Sal

This recipe is one my sister Sal (Mrs. Richard Vaughan of Buxton) gave me a few years ago. We are buying zucchinis regularly, and use Mary Seader’s recipe often.

ZUCCHINI PUFF

3 cups of zucchini, chopped

1 large chopped onion

1/2 cup salad oil

1 cup Bisquick

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 teaspoon salt

Dash of pepper

2 tablespoons parsley or dill

Mix dry ingredients into the zucchini, onion, oil and eggs and put into a 2-quart casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 36 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown.