OUR VIEW: Expansion of library is much needed

Staff Editorial
Published: September 24, 2008

» SUMMARY: Culpeper County Library’s expansion is needed for one of the area’s best resources; Welcome to new head of LOC-Packard campus.

There’s nothing quite like a good book — just ask the staff at the Culpeper County Library.

In the past 10 years, the library has seen its loans triple — from 129,000 in 1998 to 463,000 this year.

With that many titles being borrowed, it’s no surprise the library is asking for an extension — and we’re not talking about a book fine extension.

No, the library is in dire need of renovation — it’s bursting at the seams with books, and its binding is slowly unraveling.

The library presented the $1.5 million project to the Culpeper Town Planning Commission last week, and the Library Foundation already has about $1 million saved in its account for the project. That means the foundation would have to raise half a million dollars to help fund the project.

The library is a valuable resource in our community. It would be a shame if it wasn’t kept up to date and the overcrowding wasn’t addressed quickly.

We encourage the community to make donations to the Library Foundation to help finance the renovation so that future generations can also enjoy the gift of reading.

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YOU’RE WELCOME: We would like to extend a warm welcome to the Library of Congress’s newest member.

It’s not a another classic movie, but another classic movie buff. Dr. Patrick Loughney was named chief of the Packard campus last week.

Loughney will oversee the state-of-the-art facility where the LOC acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest collection of movies, television shows, radio broadcasts and sound recordings.

Loughney formerly worked for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and is renowned for his conservation efforts.

It’s an honor to have him working in our own backyard at the Mount Pony facility.