LIBRARY: The historic clock will stay at a board member's house

Some good news came out of the Bayard Taylor Library meeting on Oct. 20: it seems as if the 1911 Wanamaker clock, donated to the library by the Darlington family, is in a safe place.
Board Vice President Karen Ammon said the clock had to be removed from the library during renovations. She had the clock moved to her house and tuned up by The Moon Dial. The board agreed that it should stay at the Ammon home until a suitable and safe place could be found for it back at the library.
Karen Darlington Halstead, whose uncle donated the clock, said she was satisfied with the outcome. She wrote:
"I have faith that the Darlington family clock will be in safe hands until a new home is found. Karen has been in touch with me to keep me in the loop. She had the clock moved professionally to her home temporarily. My uncle envisioned the clock to be a centerpiece of the other historical artifacts stored within to keep the history of Kennett Square alive and relevant." 
Ms. Ammon said she was concerned that the fate of the clock had become a contentious issue on social media, adding to the library's PR problems.
(May I offer a suggestion on how the situation should have been handled? As soon as the library became aware that people were getting upset, someone from the board should've jumped in immediately and said, look, here's where the clock is, it's being taken care of, there is nothing underhanded going on. Instead the only reaction was a statement from the library director saying the discussion shouldn't be taking place on social media.)
The bigger issue, of course, is the perception among the public that a board that would strip Bayard Taylor's name from the library has no respect for, interest in, and even knowledge about the library's history and heritage. Unfortunately, that perception was reinforced at the end of the Board meeting on Tuesday, when the board members admitted they have no idea what is in the library's valuable historic collection, which was painstakingly gathered over the years by former library director Joe Lordi. Ms. Ammon did said she plans to reach out to Mr. Lordi and former library board Bill Landmesser to learn about the collection. Gold star, belatedly.