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Group explores construction of new library

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD A forum designed to allow residents to speak on the future of the Mason Square Branch Library seemed to reach a consensus on Thursday night: it's time to look for a location for a new library.

The current library is housed in a small part of the former library building on State Street. The Springfield Library & Museums Association (SLMA) sold that building to the Urban League in 2003. Although there is a stripped-down version of the library still at the building, residents have complained it doesn't have the necessary space or programs as the former facility did.

About 30 people attended the forum, including Springfield Urban League President Henry Thomas, who refused to defend the non-profit's decision to buy the building, but did offer a pledge of help to find a new location for a library and to get it built.

"I would be more than willing to help," Thomas said.

Putnam High School Principal Kevin McCaskill facilitated the discussion which centered around the questions of what people think of the present services offered at the library and the kind of services they want to see in the future.

McCaskill underscored the importance of the branch by reporting that a survey showed there are 28,000 students, from kindergarten to college, in the area served by the Mason Square branch.

While resident Jean Fox said "I'm of the firm belief we need our building back," others, including McCaskill advocated for a new library.

McCaskill said the suits against the SLMA could "drag on for another month or for another 10 to 15 years."

Attorney Patrick Markey, who is representing the city in its lawsuit against the SLMA and who is the chair of the Library Commission, said the city could go ahead on building a new library before the suits are settled. Markey said the city is currently waiting for a court date, which could be a year from now and that he hopes to settle the issue before then.

Markey explained the city is in control of the Annie E. Curran Endowment, which funded the building of the original library. There is $4 million currently in the endowment that could be used to build a new library.

The provision of the will, though, stipulated the library must be in Mason Square and can only be a block from State Street. Markey said if a suitable location is found and it's more than one block from State Street, the city would seek a change in the will in Probate Court to allow the project to move forward.

Markey added that any money recovered by the lawsuit for the sale of the building could be used to help build a new library.

Markey asked Thomas directly what his answers were to the two questions.

As far as his reaction to the current library, Thomas said, "I don't need to address that. The answer is self-evident."

In answering what he thinks the library needs for the future, Thomas said he favors a new library to be housed in the Rebecca Johnson School or in a new Putnam High School.

Markey than asked Thomas what would the Urban League do to remedy the library situation since "the majority opinion here is the Urban League pulled the rug from under our feet."

"I didn't come here to defend an Urban League business transaction," Thomas said.

Thomas said he doesn't think people believe the Urban League did somothing negative in the neighborhood.

"I'm not going to answer that question because it assumed we did something wrong," he added.

When Elizabeth Stevens of the Mason Square Library Advisory Committee asked Thomas if he would support building a second floor to the former library to house a new one, he didn't reply.

Ben Swan, Jr., president of the Mason Square Neighborhood Council, said he would prefer seeing a new library in the Rebecca Johnson School to help lower the overhead of the library's operation.

The Mason Square Library Advisory Committee meets on the last Thursday of every month from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Mason Square Health Center.