June 4, 2001 – Not many people on St. Thomas would think of spending Saturday evening at the public library — and they couldn't if they wanted to, since the Enid M. Baa Library isn't even open then. But this Saturday evening is different.
The Friends of the St. Thomas Libraries is hosting an open house for its members and the wider community from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the historic downtown structure. The purpose of the gathering is to introduce or elaborate on a number of initiatives — public, private and collaborative — that are in progress or might be possible to upgrade library services.
For starters, the Friends group has been coordinating a Saturday morning children's program, Reading Buddies, that got going at the library at the start of May and will continue at least through June 23.
And last week the library reopened after having been closed the week before so workers could install new shelving and weed out enough damaged, outdated and otherwise unattractive books to fill a hundred boxes, so as to make way for news ones already received and more on the way.
And then there's the biggie. The organization used to be called "The Friends of the Enid M. Baa Library." The reason for its new, pluralized name is simple: The group actively supports — and is lobbying the community and the government for — a new library outside of the crowded downtown Charlotte Amalie area, ideally in what not too many years ago was "the country" around Fort Mylner and Four Winds.
There are two reasons to think this might actually come about in the foreseeable future, Diane Moody, Friends vice president and program chair, notes. First, Tutu Park Ltd., the mall developer, pledged in its bid for renewal of Economic Development Commission tax benefits to build a new library on the mall property across from Plaza Extra Supermarket. Second, the government already has architectural plans drafted for a library that was intended to be built at the ruins of the historic Tutu greathouse behind Tillett Gardens.
The Friends received a $400 mini-grant from the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands for the children's reading program. "With this grant, the Friends will be able to purchase additional books for the children's room and well as art supplies for various activities with the children," Moody says.
"We're not sure" whether the program will be extended, she notes. "We planned from the start to stop in July and August, because so many people are gone."
But there's a larger issue here, one critical to the Friends' agenda: "We will continue the program when they get a librarian," she says. "We want to be there to support a librarian in the work that she or he wants to accomplish."
The Enid M. Baa Library has not had a staff librarian — an individual with a library science degree — in two years, and seeing that situation rectified is high among the not-for-profit group's priorities. The last librarian on St. Thomas within the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums, Shirley Lincoln, retired last December but continues to work as a volunteer.
The Friends membership includes a number of the island's otherwise-employed librarians and also a broad spectrum of community supporters.
The librarians include Moody, who works at the new Henry L. Kimelman Library at Antilles School; Nancy Christie, coordinator of libraries for the public schools; Linda Barr, at the Ralph Paiewonsky Library on the University of the Virgin Islands St. Thomas campus; and Geraldine Heath, at the Sts. Peter and Paul School library.
Among the other members are its president of several years, attorney Tom Bolt; retired government official Gaylord Sprauve; community activist Ellen Maclean; Sen. Lorraine Berry and Kenneth Broome, a longtime Baa library user who is an advocate for seniors and the preservation of oral history.
The "future library" focus of the evening will be informal, Moody says. Kevin Qualls, who designed the Kimelman facility, will bring along "some of the early architectural drawings that he did during our [Antilles'] capital campaign first, and what it actually ended up looking like."
Martha Galiber, who was the Baa children's librarian in the 1970s, will be there, and Moody said an invitation was extended to former Baa librarian Nina Corneiro to talk about how the library functioned in years past. Barr is putting together an exhibit of images of the new Antilles library and historic photographs of the Baa facility.
The group also has asked the Planning and Natural Resources Department and its Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums to make available the plans drafted in the mid-1990s for the Tutu greathouse, "which is what they're going to start out using to plan any new library at Tutu Park," Moody says.
She emphasizes that the Friends is not pushing for a new library to be built at any particular site: "We're saying we want a library, but we don't get into the political end."
Although the Friends group has been in existence for years, its new activism has lifted its profile in the community. Nowadays, Moody says, "I'm so gratified whenever I go into the bookstore and say I'm with the Friends, and they say, 'Oh, we need more brochures!'"
The aim of the open house, according to a Friends release, is to share the group's "vision of where our libraries should go and what part good library service plays in educating and enriching our community, as well as preserving its rich cultural heritage." Participants can expect to find informal discussion groups addressing such topics as library advocacy, programs and needs at Baa and elsewhere in the community, and library planning and design.
Attendees also will have an opportunity to tour the historic library building, including the normally off-limits areas housing the Von Scholten Collection and the third-floor photographic archives. They'll be able to join the Friends and to sign up for a library card if they haven't already done so. There will be complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres donated by Agave Terrace.
Entry to the library for the evening will be through the arched passage from Main Street and up the steps in the courtyard.
