Library Board of Trustees - Special Meeting

something like that because I really just would love for folks to get more involved I'm I am interested I'd love to talk to you more Aaron yay so I'll email you once we're done today oh sounds good perfect hi Elizabeth hello how are we doing good Elizabeth I can't wait to get these um these books to you because I want to see if they're you know authentic obviously um and see if they are something that we can put on display in our library Ava um a friend of mine one of my former um incarcerated students actually who now lives in Massachusetts he was cleaning out his um his wife's basement and found a couple of books and inside it looks like someone you know wrote like a little inscription and dated it 1897 wow so um I'm going to bring it to the library next week you know and just have Elizabeth and Allison take a look over them and see you know just see what they are um if there's you know any history we can we can learn that's great 97 so um I'm gonna bring it to do we have a lag I was just making sure that we are actually um G to be able to stream and we are so thank you that up are you able to hear everything is everybody good okay yeah yeah we're we're just um at this point I think we're just kind of waiting for um Mark Mark to be there I think he's going to be in conference five I'm not sure oh that's going to be a whole other aspect of yeah potential Tech issues um but worst case scenario he can log in with his uh phone sure John how are you

doing you're muted John I'm good how are you Elizabeth I'm okay thank you oh looks like we're getting M John I'm good how are you Elizabeth I'm okay thank you does somebody have the streaming on in the background yes it is okay because we were able to hear it yes it was aeth it is on okay great does somebody have the streaming on yeah oh oh in the background okay I don't know if it's time in the background able to hear it Joe when it launches it often opens automatically on your browser so just it might be running somebody may have it running yeah background okay time Jo when it launches it often opens automatically on your browser so just it might be running how's that I think that might be better better perfect hear us in conference room five yes sir hello chair yes we can hear you but barely can you do one more test wait minute we're going to make one adjustment and move our microphones closer too okay is that b how's that better testing testing is that better Mark keep talking Mark how's that is that better can hear you testing testing one two three yeah Bev can you talk I did can you hear me oh we yes we can perfect thank you great thank

you okay and that means that we do have a quorum so it it's um good that this is set up as a meeting okay is everybody set to go um Joe are you ready to record great thank you okay let's um call the meeting to order we do have a quorum of the library Board of Trustees present um the only um item for discussion at this meeting is the dedication of the first first floor of proster library to um Joseph M sugs and um Mark had charged Elizabeth to pull pull together her team and others to discuss ideas for this dedication and I know that um she and her leadership team have some excellent ideas I know Mark is aware of many of that many of those so Mark since um we're talking about the building commit would you like to jump in and you and Elizabeth can lead this conversation sure sure I uh thanks Ava I I just wanted to uh set the table a little bit so we're all you know on the same page and that is that um the the Town Council has directed The Town manager to to execute this whole thing um I know he wanted to be here he understands we're having this sort of uh kick off meeting and yes I understand a lot of research been done already which is great um uh we do intend to follow up with him almost immediately next week I know he wants to meet with Ava and Elizabeth and myself uh you know as a followup to this meeting uh and there very well may be

you know probably other you know meetings in our future I'm sure uh as we go through this so so the building committee is here to assist you you know uh in in this effort uh and then eventually administer and execute whatever the you know design ends up to be um I know that the town manager wants to uh bring this to the uh governance subcommittee of the Town Council um so at some point we should be talking about timing of that and work towards whenever that uh could happen uh and the other thing I just wanted to mention as we get going is that um uh I did invite uh or suggest that you invite John capadona who's here with us from the winberry Historical Society I think you know John and the society are you know a great resource as we go forward keep things uh in perspective um and um can only help the The Cooperative effort you know in in what we're doing here um so so you know as we go forward with this um again I just want to mention you know keeping keeping developing a schedule so so we get through this in a timely way uh and also everybody understands that the Town Council did allocate uh $20,000 uh outside of our project funds uh for this effort as well um I have uh some thoughts I brought couple of Graphics along to help us as well but I don't you know I can share in the discussion as we move forward with you know as appropriate um to what I was thinking about some different things and aspects of it uh which you'll probably cover before I get to say anything so um

Elizabeth I'll I'll turn it to you thank you Mark um and it's it's interesting to hear you say that because just like you have thoughts we continue to um see people in the library who also have thoughts for how this should go so I hope moving forward it can be very inclusive um that being said I did um I have been doing a lot of thinking and looking into um and exploring um options that we can respond to this request in a very sophisticated elegant and respectful way um one of the things I did was um over uh in November um I went to the schwarzman building of New York Public Library which is the flagship building of New York Public Library um and the one when people think about nypl with the library Lions that's the building I'm talking about on Fifth Avenue um the very right behind briyan Park very famous world-renowned um and honestly uh the example Setter for Best Practices um in library liaries in a whole variety of ways including how to respect um those important people um who have come along the way to that that want to be memorialized remembered um and have dedicated uh ideas towards so my main takeaway from that experience kind of mirrored um my own understanding of this process um I in my previous uh life was an art librarian at the frick collection in New York City um the frick collection being named for Henry Clay frck um and in that very revered reading room of the frick

art reference library we had a beautiful portrait of Mr Frick um and there was one other uh uh portrait to um Mr melon who was also part of the uh giving to that institution so in that great reading room there were two portraits so my main suggestion here seeing that we have a beautiful portrait of Mr prer is to engage with um a portrait artist to have a seated portrait um a very sophisticated um approach um and a time honored tradition um of Mr sugs and have those portraits um together in somewhere on the first floor of that Library um and we can I think it there would be a lot of debate about what that would look like I you know when I think about portraits today that have really rang true I think about the presidential portraits of Barack Obama that sit in the national uh Portrait Gallery the National Portrait Gallery which is a Smithsonian in Washington DC and it's a very contemporary portrait of him sitting amongst a flowery background um and kind of speaks to a lot of what he did in terms of you know uh policy and and and New Direction and New Growth so I think that if we were able to give this idea of um you know what are the things that we as a community think about Mr Suggs and present that to um the portrait community and have some feedback um and maybe get some ideas from them um and potential artist uh ideas similar to how this type of thing has been done for national monuments that's on a much

larger scale but I think Bloomfield could do it very nicely as well um with the goal of perhaps getting a Connecticut or Bloomfield artist um involved um in addition to that on BPL online we have a history of the library page where we talk about the buildings we talk about Mr prer and um it would be nice to add to that with Mr Suggs with um perhaps a timeline of his life um research and links out to um articles and press of interest to give a fuller idea of him and then finally the third prong of this um is anybody here familiar with story core yes story core is an amazing living digital audio library where there's one person who knows the person who interviews the the person in question and it's that Dynamic conversation that leads to these beautiful um tributes to people to ideas to Concepts and I think that if we had um you know I I've always dreamed about doing something like that in Bloomfield in partnership with the Historical Society you know and have kind of bloomfield's Own Story C and perhaps an interview with Mr sugs and somebody else um such as mayor Wong would make a really great first edition um of something that we could work on and continue to grow and have this audio library of Bloomfield interviews um you know to to to live forever and um I think that three pronged approach with the BPL online the um audio interview process and a really respectful

sophisticated portrait of Mr sugs would be a really wonderful um dedication to him and to his work in a really respectful way and also a really a great Doorway to um educating our youth about important Bloomfield figures um you know we don't have a lot on Mr prer we do but we don't um and this would be we we'd be able to really get a lot of great um content about Mr sugs and be able to share that and it would it would really be quite lovely um yeah I love I like all three prongs um uh we we do have our own story core it's called their story and um we uh U I hadn't I don't know why I hadn't thought of it but we're soliciting interviews and Joe Suggs would be a great interviewee um by the way our their story is not only audio it's video also and they are archived with the state um and uh we've done one and I have two more in the offing but that that sounds that sounds great um what I'm wondering about our our uh videos are who's going to see them and you know uh where will will they be uh shown um um and I'm I'm still working on that it's not my project at all this is from um a professor at Yukon um uh who's headed this whole thing up uh but it's specifically about Bloomfield it's Bloomfield residents um and important figures in Bloomfield so this would be perfect for that and I'd love to undertake that

anybody I have to say from an educational background that's absolutely perfect um nothing engages students of all ages more than watching a living image and hearing the person speak and getting their perspective even if they're no longer there they have that sense that the person is speaking to them that's the most powerful educational mode for for many students I think that's brilliant idea and I really love the idea of the portrait a formal yeah it's Greatful creative oh by the way I'm sorry to interrupt oh go ahead you happen to have a Bloomfield artist um and I believe he does portraits um his name is Michael borders and his is uh he's going to be uh exhibiting his um very famous uh murals um in uh May uh in Bloomfield at the uh Philly house uh at the barn at Philly house um all month long but in any case um he he's somebody I would also think of uh uh or put on putting on your list of uh uh possible portraitists um and he's a Bloomfield guy and he's a wonderful guy too um I I'll pass you his name if you would like Elizabeth I'm very familiar with his work and it's currently up I believe in torington um at the three points is that the five points or the three points Gallery yes I'm familiar with him I believe just finished yes I think um and I I do think he would be a great name to put in the mix um and that would probably be the most contentious part um Who's the artist so we would have to really think up a good process to make sure that um you

know and and I know the public art commission might want to be involved as well in full disclosure I'm I'm the staff liaison to the public art commission um but uh yes and I see Todd and then Aaron have their hands up right councelor Cooper hi good morning everyone um and apologies for my tardiness just getting off to something else but um you know Elizabeth everything you said sounded like a wonderful idea and I really just wanted to chime in on one faction of that which was the um a portrait um interview of uh the person will which would be Mr sugs certainly can't interview Mr prer but uh an interview of of him um along in in this space with other information I think it makes for a a more interactive uh you know from the a public set of view and for for those who would come to see it it makes for more interactive uh um uh engagement um with the space right um I can imagine just imagining a a group of uh of young kids coming there right and they're learning Bloomfield history there's some who are getting to read uh about the things as the room circles some are getting to listen to uh the interview some are getting to look at some of the artifacts and so even in a very small space no matter the size whether small or large that you are able to engage the public which I think is the um the uh the the you know the goal of having it and to educate them on the history not only of um uh just the the library itself but the the figures Who Um this space is going to be um dedicated to so uh really that sounds like a wonderful idea and certainly thank you for your expertise yeah and councelor Cooper to elaborate on that we

can also be strategic with how we share this so you know in the roll out of course we would have you know a very formal celebration of the roll out of the portrait um and then we could strategically share the the footage that was created um I know that we have a lot of screens in the library so we could be sure to feature it there um but also online and through our social media um you know through BPL online we're always sharing content so yes we would look at it very much as like a living process not a static one where it was just kind of a once and done it would be you know something that we could point to and and and use um in an ongoing way thank you yes this all sounds so wonderful and I'm so excited Elizabeth thanks so much for um your foundational kind of uh guidance on this given your expertise I have a couple of questions um one would it be possible to have some uh Bloomfield Public School students we're all saying this is what will help with people you know and students that come in but has anyone asked students what they're going to pay attention to um I know we have some assumptions about what those things might be but I think you know getting information directly from students would be helpful second um I just sort of had an idea and Elizabeth has very much Ted into your experience um in many and you may have mentioned this my phone has gone in and out so I apologize if this is redundant so you know a lot of times when I go to museums they've got the like headphones and you can walk around and do like a little tour of the museum is that something we can consider so that when folks come in maybe there's a um a sequence of photos plaques um sayings

interviews from Mr Suggs that can be in specific places around the library um so that it does engage folks to move when they're reading all of this information and it allows them to just kind of be in different places of the library so that they're able to see it I could see that as being um that that larger picture as being a one-time roll out of this but in terms of permanent um as uh the chair of the building committee um shared there's not a lot of wall space so um I just want to caution about you know we we will be having rotating exhibitions all the time um with uh all with with students with the schools we show student artwork we work with um other other groups as well so um but yes I think when we we talk about you know the grand revealing of the portrait that would be a idea okay awesome thanks so much Elizabeth yeah actually I'd like to add something here too um talking about student involvement there are a number of other avenues that um the schools could pursue um the social studies um history and social studies standards for the state of Connecticut do include the teaching of local history at V various levels with increasing levels of sophistication and I have read um National History Day papers for a long time as a judge and this is the kind of topic that um students could use as their as their independent research project and as their entry in in that as an example kids love contests even though it could be history they will still go after it because it's a contest things that could be attractive to students and draw them in you know classes doing a

project that's then going to be shown to the Board of Education the you know teachers will think of many ways to use this when it's available because it it is a powerful way to teach so I I think it's great Ava if I if I may um sure well I love everything I've heard uh I'm I'm sure the building committee will love it too um not that it you know needs their approval um the vast majority of this is operational things up up to you guys on Library trustees and staff um but I was hoping that um we could discuss today the um uh you know that the council said that this is a dedication of the first floor um and personally I you know professionally I I find that very vague um and and I thought we could have a discussion on how to improve on that um and I'm sure the council uh would be open to suggestions the town manager uh to perhaps make that more specific we have opportunities to name spaces specifically or any other ideas because I it's not really something that's commonly done as taking an entire floor of a building and dedicating it um but we have an opportunity perhaps to to focus that in addition to everything you're talking about um you know the community room is a target I think uh for dedication the main reading space uh uh uh which I think has been I've interpreted as as as kind of where the council was heading in in saying the first floor I mean you're going to walk into this new library and you're going to be in the nicest space in the entire town of Bloomfield I think uh you're just going to want to be there

uh it's glorious and so that's a Target as well for a specific uh space to be dedicated to Mr Suggs um so I was just throwing that out there for For Thought um rather than just plainly saying oh we're dedicating the first floor um I think it would have more meaning if it was if it was focused and that that's my own personal thing um I had the privilege of working on uh another landmark library and that was Boston Public Library the old McKim building and that's what they have done uh you know they have rooms named after specific uh donors artists uh the whole building is filled with with that um the main reading room there is is is Bates Hall uh and I have an image of it uh here I gave it to Joe this morning um but it's named after a donor you know and it's called bats Hall um so that kind of thing you know we we could have the sugs reading room um if you scroll down there Joe you'll see the I'm sure everybody's seen Bates Hall if not visited it a little bit lower little bit more there we go so that's Bates Hall that's what I think of when I think of of Boston Public Library so we have as glorious a space as that um so it's um Food For Thought um just going forward thank you yeah oh and I also I'm sorry we're here in conference room five and uh um we do have a member of the public here that wanted to speak so Ava I'll let you um yeah actually I'm having the tiles are now so tiny Joel could you take the

picture back down so that we could see um more clearly ah thank you okay um sorry I can't see who's there but um technically we did not include public comment but I don't think that precludes us from taking public comment so um can I just ask who it is we're talking it's it's it's rickford Eva it's rickford okay thank you no I I I'm just going to be brief I just want to say thank you all for what you're doing I I just want to add a little bit to it what I like what Elizabeth said and the vision would it be possible to also kind of rope that into giving a little history of the town or in this in the case of Mr sugs his political um I guess uh time in Bloomfield and you can kind of robe the history of Bloomfield political landscape especially if you're talking about the the schools and I love what eron said I think with this project I think you can find a way to get some of our young people involved because once again they're the ones that are going to live with this and out in the future and it'll be great for them to have a say in in in the layout and so on so that it thank you all a lot of good stuff okay thanks rickford um we um um I'll just mention we uh at the Historical Society have been reaching out to uh seventh graders in Carmen aace and they've uh come on uh a tour recently uh they've entered a um uh they've uh they've written their um uh comments about Bloomfield they've each taken a person or a place in Bloomfield and uh researched it and so on so we're getting we have kind of a

foot in the door there and um there's some some very uh bright students uh that we've uh dealt with and yeah to to uh to ask yeah what what would make what would make this um what would you like to see in a library just to get get some opinions from them because I have a feeling they'll they'll say um interesting things um you know if it's supposed to be meaningful for them um um we should see what what's what's interesting to them so I'd be glad to uh reach out to them uh uh and and kind of float the idea what's important in the new library what do you think so when we did the survey back um to help guide this process um we were very successful in reaching a lot of teenagers and we had a lot um a lot of uh input from the teenagers in terms of um what they wanted in the library um I can tell you right now the top thing was a team space they wanted their own spaces and we really were able to deliver that in both McMahon and prer um um and uh you know it's our youth staff does this every day our youth staff is with the students we were in the schools last night with book voyagers we have a literacy event coming we have special steam program science technology um mathematics education and the Arts that type of thing um engineering um so we're constantly getting feedback from the teens um waye this type of thing um I don't know if it would r on the on the young people's top 10 list and this is kind of where we come in and and we do these types of programs where it's in

relation to so for instance last week we had a celebration for Martin Luther King on his actual birthday January 15th we showed um his eye of a Dream speech we sang Happy birthday to him and then we had a program where um everyone was asked to put what their dreams were for the future so it's that type of PR programming where I'm thinking the Youth Department would be like hey this is a great program where we're going to also do this this is going to be a part of it so a lot of our programming it's it's multi I we're using the word pronged again but that's the best way to describe it it's multi-pronged so that we get the students in and we do something fun and then we also have resources of interest to help um enrich the program um so uh I'm not sure the interest level for young people in our community um you know to come out from out of school then to come into our to to do some of these things and so that's why um Library programming tries to be so broad-based in our approaches um so when we're talking about history and resources this this type of programming would be one of many things going on at at the same time in a lot of these types of things but that being said it's the youth Librarians who are the experts um in Interac AC ING with our schools and our youth um so I would want to put put that into their realm about how to get that input one um and two how to incorporate that input into um programming and resources there's a long tradition um even when I was in Bloomfield in the schools there's a very long tradition of the schools and the libraries partnering so I think this is just an excellent continuation of that and the youth Librarians are experts in that field so I think they can definitely work with

this process and really productively um Claudia did you want to say anything was there you know your reaction um I think that Elizabeth's three part approach is great I I I'm very impressed and um I don't really have more to say than this other than I was going to say there didn't seem to a lot of wall space from the pictures so I was curious as to what people would come up with I didn't have my own opinion beyond that um Elizabeth can you tell me what the third prong is we have the portrait we have the story core and and a page on BPL online that would be con ly being updated and added to um so that we could grow upon these things so maybe the roll out is a is you know like kind of a basic biography of Mr Suggs um and then um you know it grows over time as we as we get more information about him as you know things to add the history of Bloomfield um I should say that we do not have a special collections librarian on staff this kind of falls under special collections um so our assistant director Allison will Co oversees our history colle collection um uh there's a whole set of of of work involved with that with you know uh doing the research making sure everything is correct um so again um I I think that if if we are kind of happy with this approach the next thing would be to do um would be to research the costs involved um there's costs in portraiture there's costs in uh you know in in some of the things I've mentioned and I I would want to um do a little bit more research to put a rough rough budget document together on what it would look like to do this again in a

sophisticated respectful um and appropriate manner um for our our beloved Library um Bev did you want to add anything I want to make sure everybody gets a chance I I did not have uh any ideas just like Claudia I really didn't know where to what direction to go in and I'm really pleased with what Elizabeth has come up with I I'm very happy with all of it um I can't wait to see it thank you thanks so Mark I think what we're hearing here excuse me is that um I think we're all pretty happy with the idea of doing more you know the most we possibly can you know for um to make this really valuable to every sector of Bloomfield um I agree with Elizabeth that we that research on the cost of this is something we need we need to um pursue and um we also when the town manager returns um we need to um fill him in on all of this conversation because it's been you know very productive and positive and I I think that um I wouldn't dare to speak for him but I think he'll be very pleased that um we're we're trying to do the absolute most we can in this process um was there anything else that you um had wanted to discuss Mark or Elizabeth I know Elizabeth you're you know you've been very sequential there I guess I guess to Mark's direct question um given the layout of that space um I I agree with you you know user habits will kind of dictate the names of that people use use for those spaces um in and in terms of having a space that was named after him

um I think the community room is really great uh great idea this this sugs community room or um the conference room on the second floor I know the other you know so there are two specific spaces that I think people would be able to readily identify um I that Atrium space I know there's people calling it The Atrium there's people calling it the main reading room The Adult Space um I'm curious what the public will come to refer to these spaces as um so if we were going to name a space I think we should be really intentional about making sure it will be something easy for the um public to to launch on to yeah I think that makes a lot of sense um did you envision um anything else um in the building uh other than the portrait for for Joe Suggs um any kind of storyboard or you know anything else and you know that's what we would would want to coordinate you know location I guess that's where we talk about the idea of permanent verse um temporary exhibition so maybe for the only permanent thing um a portrait in terms of the roll out and a temporary exhibition we could do more for those things um similar to what um Aaron had suggested um you know for Popup exhibitions and rotating exhibitions but for permanence um just the portrait seeing that we do not have again um I don't think people realize how minimal uh the wall space actually is um well I I I think it's deceiving because you know it's not a house uh you know I think there there are a lot of windows but there really is a lot of wall space um for um probably whatever we could think of um but uh we have time to you know to locate that

um I would um um yeah I think we you know we just want to look at look at that in in detail and see if there is anything I would be a proponent of having project funds pay for anything that's mounted in the building um I know the council has set aside funds for this as well um but I'm certainly willing to talk about um you know on behalf of the building committee using project funds for Whatever Gets mounted built into the building I think that could be easily you know appropriate um and and then um whatever's online story core you know other things perhaps that is funded by what the council has set aside so um you know we can talk about that and make recommendations and work with the town manager on that as well I can mention that our store our um their story it's our own story core um is already funded um uh so that we just produced a um uh a 20 minute video it was on actually uh uh Bloomfield garage uh Francis uh who owns the Bloomfield garage been around for a hundred years uh and uh we just interviewed him and and um probably 20 minutes and that's already funded so John can you please share the link for that I I would love to send it to you I know there's other communities in conect Connecticut who also have their own little initiatives um and some of them it's like they get the green light but then there's no staff to do it um so that would that would also be part of it um putting together budget to see what the actual you know the costs would be okay yeah when um Mark and I spoke

briefly about this um I mentioned kind of a caution about the permanency of displays there had been a portrait of Mr prer in the library for a long time no one remembers that no it became so familiar it became invisible and we we would not like that to happen so if you're going to put up something you have to really be careful of how you manage that so that it doesn't become just part of the furniture something that people don't don't even see we we want people to notice um whatever it is that memorializes Mr sugs or you know um a painting in particular so that that needs consideration yeah and and that's the thing you know we have so many competing uh focuses uh at all times you know so we're about to go into Black History Month in February we're about to go into women's History Month in March it's it's we will do our best but um you know we will all not be here forever and so there's a lot that we can do but um you know the next the next director the next Library board the next Council things you know living spaces are constantly in flux um specifically libraries so um that's why I think it's super important that the portrait be very sophisticated so it does stand the test of time uh councelor Cooper had his hand up oh I'm sorry Todd yes hi hi um just wanted to just verification uh uh Mark you you said that there is a you know there's a lot of Windows and and in

space you know could just a little clarification on when you say space because I thought we am I incorrect but I thought it was more the dedication of the first floor area right well so far so far the wording is that that um the first floor be dedicated to Joe sucks that was the wording okay but I but I uh clearly challenged that with with some deeper thinking about what and and Elizabeth uh you know also mentioned um something that would be um more useful in the long run and and uh more respectful in the long run um you know with the naming of a room or you know something that rolls off the tongue more easily if it's if the first floor is dedicated uh uh to Mr sugs then I don't think anybody would ever speak of the first floor but if uh you know a room is dedicated and is named for him then it becomes his name forever yeah you know the S the sugs conference room the sugs reading room you know so just you know like I said Food For Thought yeah I understand I was just thinking too also with that um certainly I am on board for having um rotating other displays right but in you know the the word dedicated to me says that one that one specific space would would be dedicated right whether it's the the the story board the the the you know hisory the portrait and things of that nature that those things would be static uh but maybe in the surrounding areas that could be more of a rotating uh displays of of different things

Bloomfield Town history uh and and all the other uh uh pieces uh and and things that you know the of the ideas that were put forward which you know I think would give more it would be a separation but it would be a a good separation in that you know you're you're always going to have some changes and some points of interest that that folks will want to come see but um you know would would keep with the uh the idea and the intent uh of the dedication right I think counselor Cooper this is Dr Corbett um it I think that for the largest amount of exposure like I don't think we want to erect a shrine to Joe sugs I think in in this dedication of the first floor and I I definitely agree with Mark a conference room can be reserved so you're constantly saying his name Joe suggs's name is constantly being used inside of the context of the library the sugs reading room the sugs conference room etc etc to kind of have a and Shrine I'm sure it's not the word you intend but it's the only word that's coming to me right now to have this sort of one static shrine thing is going to be very uh like Tim limited it's going to be really exciting at first and then no one's going to care about it but if we are constantly referencing a room that is popularly used and a room that thus has pictures of Mr sugs parts of Bloomfield history and some more of our Local Heroes then that's something that keeps the name running in the town and in the library and extends the memory of Suggs far longer than any of us will be here because a plaque is a dedication they're going to be like oh that's cute

let me get to the reference section versus you know the reference section is on is next to the sugs conference room certainly I I you know I some of uh your points are well taken um but the we got here we got here because the prer library right who no one knew right even in town no one really knew who who Levi prer was all they knew people in town who don't know who Jo sugs is and so we that's the thing and so we I I want and the intent right the intent uh I'll go back to that the core of this was to ensure that people do know right and so that way as you said for longevity purposes that this is there and that there's enough information that there's a dedicated space um and certainly I will not use the word shrine I think dedicated space uh because if that's the case in the whole building of a shrine to to Mr prer Abol and I would right so so I don't want to say those type of things I want it to be I think that the intent again is so that we know the history of these folks and we're dedicating spaces to them right so that people know about them that's what that's really what it is we want to know what they did for Bloomfield how it was done all of that and so we seek to honor these people I don't I you know for me but I believe director Lane and you know and the ideas that have come up I so I guess I don't think that we're saying different things I think that director Lane I think in this you know very collaborative conversation I think we're all intending the same thing and the ideas that have come up with the portraiture and the story boarding um and the the BPL page

there are also going to be um potential curricular tie-ins that we can work in with BPS so that the students in the schools are learning about Joe sugs and Levi procer but for the purposes of this conversation Joe sugs so there are lots of ways that not only will this Dedication that is multipronged reach more people but there are ways for this history through what we have at the library that can spread out in the town even further so I think the space the portrait will obviously be in a dedicated space you know where we have recordings of interviews and pictures that will be dedicated space are you thinking of dedicated space in a different way so I you know again I have have you know my my um my take on it is is that there is its dedicated space but surrounding it and it was the it was the dedicated space right but in the the language of I think of the council if we go back and and be very specific it was did the first floor dedication that's right I I I I am not um saying that I want just the whole first floor and it be all Jo no that's not what I'm saying I'm saying a dedicated space but it is the first floor is is dedicated to him with a specific space right and then the surrounding um the surrounding spaces be um you know not not be static but be everchanging and so I think we agree but we're we're agreeing um from different perspectives so um I'm going to leave I'm going to leave it alone but again I I think we agree let me just say that okay and here for a second one just second forgive me um we need to keep in mind that one

once we get into the area of displays we we do have policy about that and the policy is there for a reason it it is um one that means things will move around so that we don't have things become invisible so that things do command public attention and are noticed and are absorbed and are are considered and everything that we're talking about doing is to make sure that all of this is available within the building on the website through the computers in the library in our Partnerships with the school in a in a budding partnership with the Historical Society remember we also on the second floor even though that isn't technically the area that's um dedicated there's a history collection so we would not ignore that and just say oh that's on the second floor of course everything needs to be integrated to make sure that we're doing the absolute most possible here I think we're all talking about the same kind of um insurance that that um everything we do for Mr Suggs and for the history of Bloomfield and others is noticed and valued and respected I I think we're all talking about the same thing it's very typical Bloomfield we we kind of agree on where we want to go we're just talking about how we get there and but we all want to get there so I just a friendly reminder we're we're need to vacate this room at noon Elizabeth I just wanted to say also that this three BR approach is very much above and beyond dedicating a space um when you walk into museums a lot of times there's a space dedicated to a donor and it's simply the name that's it just the last name and the room and there's nothing beyond that so um we are being very Mindful and respectful and

this really I think if this is the plan that goes forward it's very above and Beyond just a simple dedication um especially again um if that if the portrait is done right it will stand the test of time and it whoever is here a hundred years from now will want to keep both of those portraits up because they're they're beautiful portraits okay um I think the next step is that we will have a conversation with the town manager when he returns um and see where we go from there as Mark said I'm I'm also watching the clock um we we have to vacate conference room 5 and um we can't continue a meeting that does not have a physical presence available for the public legally so is um anything else you know for the good of the country here um I just before we end could I just show the spaces Mark had shared them and I just want to have everybody just be on the same page of what exactly we're talking about sure so this is this is the main the main reading room space can everybody see that where it says main library area yes this is the children's area and then this is the community room so you'll see there's wall space but there there's not um we don't have an abundance of wall space I shall say right right right those uh those columns on the right are perfect locations for um something to be mounted they're they're pretty wide um and so that's available yeah yeah among other things um but um a little deceiving in that photo yeah in

the rendering rendering Elizabeth could I have your contact info so I can send you what you've asked for I will send you email immediately after this meeting yes you have my email address yes I do yeah you do okay thanks I have everybody's email address somewhere okay well um we are literally out of time because um the people who were in conference 5 have to get their stuff and vacate um I think this was a really good conversation I think we're all headed in a Direction that's very positive very respectful and and really something that Bloomfield needs and wants so we will continue we will continue these conversations and make sure that we get there um so thank you to everyone who came um if there's no opposition then I'll adjourn the meeting okay thanks everybody by bye thank you bye thanks everyone