| Mount
Shasta Branch Library
Library
needs major repairs (Mount Shasta Herald Wednesday,
July 7th, 2004)
The Shasta Energy
Group is working with the Mount Shasta Branch Library and local volunteers
to obtain funding to retrofit the Mount Shasta Branch Library Building
to be more energy efficient.
The Mt. Shasta Branch Library is in need of repairs and facility upgrading.
The Shasta Energy Group is seeking City and Council approval and input
to pursue the preliminary fact-finding stage of the Mt. Shasta Branch
Library Project.
Goal:
Upgrade the Mt. Shasta Branch Library facility building to assist the
Siskiyou County Library system in fulfilling its needed services to
the citizens of Siskiyou County and Mt. Shasta City.
Objective:
Renovate and expand the Mt. Shasta Branch Library facility building,
install a more energy efficient heating/AC system, replace leaking windows,
and replace 80% of the library lighting system. Furthermore, we are
proposing that in an enlarged library building, space be appropriated
for an interpretative wetland center to augment the educational opportunities
associated with the adjacent Siskiyou Land Trust’s Sisson Meadows.
Timeline:
The project is in the initial planning stages. Within the next calendar
year we hope to receive contractor bids, write grants and secure funding.
Construction may occur within 2005.
Benefits:
Decreased heating and cooling costs due to more efficient insulation,
thus allowing an increased percentage of the Branch Library budget to
new book purchases and librarian hours and a decrease in cold drafts
experienced in the winter by patrons and staff. The Siskiyou Land Trust
purchased Sisson Meadows, 7 acres of wetlands adjacent to the Mount
Shasta Library. The Siskiyou Land Trust may partner with the Upper Sacramento
River Exchange to create interpretive signs for the property. The Library
Project could include a wetland interpretive center to begin Sisson
Meadow interpretive tours. The wetland interpretative center could be
utilized as an ongoing educational resource for teachers and staff at
the nearby Sisson Middle School.
Budget Total:
Budget total is contingent on contractor bids.
We feel that the
library is a focal point of community life, a vital part of a literate
society. The library building is a multi-purpose facility; it provides
more than a quiet space to read. A good public library is an essential
part of American community life. Furthermore, we feel that having a
wetland interpretative center would add an opportunity for hands-on
learning. Benjamin Franklin the founder of the first Public Library
in America said famously: “Tell me I forget, teach me I remember,
involve me I learn.”
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