Wishing Everyone Speedy Recoveries

By Carol Van Why, Co-chair, Library Committee, originally published in the November 2022 issue of  the 1666 Coffman Newsletter

Residents frequently tell Faye Herold and me how much they value Coffman’s Library. We always share the praise and say that it’s all because the Library Committee is a working committee. We may make it look effortless, but it takes about 3,000 volunteer hours a year to manage and operate our Library.

Beginning October 15, three of the Committee’s senior members were hospitalized and required follow-up transitional care. That’s twenty-five percent of the workforce.

Soon after, Mary Abbe announced that she wished to resign from the Committee. Mary had been a Library Committee member since September 2011, while still working full-time. Until she retired, she faithfully shelved books once a week. Post-retirement, she attended meetings, always making valuable contributions to monthly book discussions. She also served as the committee’s recorder.

Despite the aforementioned maladies, core Library services will be unaffected. Other committee members accepted additional shelving assignments. New books will be inventoried and appear on the Recent and Relevant shelves. As they become available, surplus books will show up on the third-floor sales table. Lastly, as time permits, Eileen Smith will begin to inventory the Fiction collection.

Some of the special projects, however, will be moved to the back burner. Earlier this summer, we moved all of the heavy art books to lower shelves. Fortunately, the shelves show no signs of permanent damage.

As a result, many of the books on the upper level shelves have been temporarily relocated. Consult the posted shelf guides for current book arrangement throughout the Library. Thanks to a suggestion from Ted Lentz, we’ve revised the shelf guides, making them easier to read.

​By the time this article appears, I will be in a warm location for the winter. Faye Herold will be the Chair-in-Residence through May.