Saturday, November 14, 2015

LIBRARY: A new website, the same controversies

Even launching a new website has proved controversial for the board of the "Kennett Public Library." This past Friday they took the site (with its blue apostrophe logo) live to replace bayardtaylor.org. Predictably, this did not sit well with people who are still stewing about the way the board changed the library's name from "Bayard Taylor Memorial" to "Kennett Public."
This is the way the new website's FAQ page explains the unpopular name change: "This decision was informed by a focus group of Board and Staff members who believed that the name should reflect the community of eight municipalities that we serve, and that it would clear up confusion about where the Library was located."
But they didn't ask the public -- which explains the community outcry that has ensued. A couple of waggish friends, both dead set against the name change, remarked on an obvious error on the new site: the spelling of the library's name.
A neighbor wrote on the new site: "No, you have not listened!!! Change the name back to Bayard Taylor Memorial Library and the community will support you. If you do not, nothing you do will cause the community to support you!"
(She is a retired Unionville schoolteacher, so I'll forgive her for writing better than me. She's also 100% correct, in my opinion.)
Another FAQ on the site: "Are you really building a new library?" The answer: "We plan to! Currently, our Board of Trustees is negotiating with Kennett Square Borough and Kennett Township regarding a site within the Borough. As soon as a Memorandum of Understanding is finalized, design and funding will begin. In the event that we stay in the Borough, the parcel of land that we own on Way's Lane will be sold."
I'd like to suggest a more important FAQ: "How are you going to afford this new library given the extremely negative results of your recent feasibility study?"

1 comment:

  1. Maybe they will afford it the way Unionville could afford additions to the high school that taxpayers refused.

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