LIBRARY LOUNGE

After a long year’s work (for me - many years for the Board & others) it is finally finished - now the real work begins as we break ground this Summer!

Rangeview Library District Closes on $43M in Funding for Capital Projects

Adams County, Colorado — The Rangeview Library District successfully completed the sale of $42.9 million of certificates of participation (COPs). The district will use the funds to finance construction of four new branch libraries and the renovation and expansion of three other branches in its system, located in Adams County. Rangeview’s board of trustees authorized the issuance of the certificates in early May. All the certificates sold soon after they were put on the market on June 4 by Stifel Nicolaus, underwriters of the Rangeview Library District’s capital construction project.

Rangeview Library District’s COPs are for a 22-year term with an average interest rate of 4.4 percent. The current low interest rate environment, plus an increase in Rangeview’s bond rating of A1/A+ in January 2008 from Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service, allowed the library district to borrow at very favorable terms.

Certificates of participation are lease-purchase funding vehicles where investors purchase a share of the lease revenues of a program rather than the bond being secured by those revenues. COPs have become a popular way, other than traditional bond sales, for municipal authorities to fund capital projects. Built facilities are leased back to the municipality until the lease is paid off.

The library system is funded separately from the county, by an earmarked property mill levy. In 2006, Adams County voters approved a mill levy property tax increase for the projects. The successful passage of the tax increase allowed Rangeview to go forward with its plans to borrow money for construction and expansion project.

The new constructions include a 7,000-square foot branch located in the town Bennett on the eastern plains, a 20,000-square foot downtown branch in the city of Brighton, a 25,000-square foot facility located at 94th Avenue and Huron Street, and a 45,000-square foot library at 120 Avenue between Jasmine and Holly Streets in the City of Thornton, that will also function as the district’s support services hub. The new buildings are slated to open in late 2009.

The district’s Commerce City, Perl Mack and Thornton branches are scheduled to benefit with a program of significant renovations and some space expansions in 2010, also funded through the COP sale.

The Rangeview Library District currently serves 415,000 people in Adams County with six branch libraries and a bookmobile. The county, situated northeast of the City and County of Denver, is the fifth most populous in Colorado. It is predicted to be the fastest-growing Colorado county over the next 20 years. The library district has not had a new library branch since the late 1970s.

“You don’t become a librarian when you get a library degree. You become one when you decide that’s what you are.”

Jamie LaRue
The Next Chapter: Reinventing Myself at the Library
Colorado Libraries v. 34 No. 1 2008

CHICAGO — The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) is encouraging library employees to participate in its Library Workplace Wellness online survey. The survey provides an important opportunity for library employees to share information about the availability of, and their participation in, work-life options in libraries around the nation.Click Here to take the survey.

I was surprised when I left my last library that the thing that my co-workers mentioned the most was how much they would miss the Library Wellness Program that I had started. Mindy

We have a new director and her name is Pam Sandlian Smith. She will be joining us in November. She is currently the Director at the West Palm Beach Public Library but is originally from Denver.

We had the opportunity to meet Pam last month. She joined the administrative team for a meeting and we had about an hour to interact - and that didn’t scare her off! She also presented at a public meeting later that day. I thought she did an excellent job of answering the question about the future direction of libraries and how that could/should affect the Rangeview Library District.

The library used the executive search firm of Gossage Sager Associates. Having experienced a search for a Director both ways now - with and without an executive search firm - I believe that our money was well spent with Gossage Sager and I highly recommend them and would use them again.

Mindy

As many of you already know, I put in my notice recently and will be leaving the library at the end of this month. My daughter will be attending High School in Boulder at a Waldorf School and of course I will be going with her. I will start my new job as Finance Director of the Rangeview Library District (Adam’s County), at the beginning of May.

I am going to miss my job and all of my fellow employees terribly. I want to thank all of you for the warm welcome you gave me four years ago. The last four years have been a very exciting time here and it is all of you that have worked up to making these wonderful changes possible. I know that as I return to visit over the years I will continue to be amazed at the work you will accomplish.

I wish all of you the best of everything and I look forward to visiting with you before I leave (at the upcoming In-Service Day). I also invite you to keep in touch by e-mail at mindykittay@gmail.com. You know I will always be available to you to answer your technology questions or just chat.

Mindy

Our very own Janine Rose is mentioned in the February issue of American Libraries on page 45 in the Cited column for her award from the 2006 New York Times Librarian.

Mindy

Thanks to Sharon for these pictures from ALA in New Orleans.