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A town hall in all but name

The Palm Harbor Library draws a diverse crowd. Next year, residents will decide whether to increase its funding.

By NICOLE JOHNSON
Published October 11, 2005

	[Times photo: Scott Keeler]
	Youth services volunteer Rosalie Slover helps Charlotte Dilworth, 1, of Palm Harbor with her clay art during a session of First Steps at the Palm Harbor library. First Steps is a five-week workshop where parents can bring their toddlers to play, and families can get information from a professional in child health care.

PALM HARBOR - For Sebastian Blumberg, it's a place to zone out on the video game Runescape.

Robin Jensen comes to squeeze in some mommy-and-son time.

And it's Dolores Buonagurio's office away from home.

The Palm Harbor Library is a lot of things to a lot of people.

But it's most certainly more than books to most in this loosely knit community of 60,000.

"A successful library serves the immediate needs of the community," said library director Gene Coppola. "You can't fit a square in a circle."

Even though Palm Harbor's population is almost four times the size of neighboring Oldsmar, the unincorporated area does not have a public gymnasium. And while a major road project is under way downtown, the average passer-by wouldn't know where to find the community's center.

So in the past few years, the library at 2330 Nebraska Ave. has worked to fill that void by becoming a one-stop community center of sorts.

Last week, Pinellas County commissioners agreed to schedule a referendum asking voters to consider a quarter-mill tax increase for the library and another quarter-mill increase for parks and recreation services.

"We want to be even more relevant," Coppola said. "We want to be here providing services that earn the tax dollars."

If approved, the tax increases would be expected to generate $900,000 more per year for the library and recreation department. Palm Harbor officials say the money would pay for more recreation facilities and a $4-million expansion of the library, which often serves as the community's de facto town hall.

On a recent weekday afternoon, activities in the library ran the gamut from children's classes to video game championships.

In the library's community room, bouncy toddlers and their mothers formed a circle and sang a song about brushing teeth and hair in an octave that one would think would make most librarians cringe.

Instead, assistant librarian Lisa McCarthy sang along.

"We've moved a long way from the "Sshh ... library,"' said McCarthy, who works in the children's section. "The traditional piece is still there, but programs like this show that we're trying to be a place for families."

The sing-along is part of the library's First Steps Workshop series, a five-week workshop where parents can bring their toddlers to play, and chat with a professional in child health care.

For Clearwater resident Robin Jensen, who teaches public speaking at St. Petersburg College, holding the class at the library provides an economical and convenient complement to her morning routine.

"It gives him a chance to be around other kids in an organized way," Jensen, 43, said as her 2-year-old son Connor darted to the middle of the circle every chance he got. "We do this, and then I'll take him home and get ready for work."

Later in the day, the teen room is abuzz with people playing the medieval adventure video game Runescape. Like the community room, rules are a bit more relaxed in this section of the library. A neon sign is at the entrance of the room and the walls are painted with images of superheroes.

The activity is an almost daily routine for Sebastian Blumberg, 16, a junior at Palm Harbor University High School.

"This place (Palm Harbor) is almost a hick town," he said, typing away at the computer in his sock feet. "So this is like my getaway ... my cool spot."

There's not much play involved with taking a quiz on pharmacology. But Dolores Buonagurio does take breaks from her online class to check out what's new in the arts and crafts world.

"The library has one of the best collections" of arts and crafts books, she said.

Without a computer at home, she comes to the library to complete quizzes and course work for her online course in medical billing at St. Petersburg College.

"It's really an extension of my home," said Buonagurio, 60, a Nielsen Media employee.

While the area's unincorporated status does limit resources for the library. It does provide some advantages, Coppola said.

In 2000, the library held 25 focus groups to find out just what the community needed from its library.

Those meetings led the library to introduce deaf literacy services, a Friday night jazz social and expanded business services.

And when the county and the Greater Palm Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce wanted to develop an economic development program in Palm Harbor, the library was their first stop. Coppola is the former chairman of the chamber's board of directors.

"The library has become a Palm Harbor institution," said Connie Davis, president of the chamber of commerce. "It's grown up with the area, so it's a perfect tie-in for us."

But for all its extras, books are still at the library's core.

"The idea is to make sure when they leave with a book, they can also leave with information on some other activity they may find interesting," Coppola said.

[Last modified October 11, 2005, 01:58:15]