Several Saucon Valley teachers visited the Hellertown Area Library on Valentine’s Day to present library staff with a $1,400 donation. The money will fund scholarships for Lower Saucon Township residents who must purchase library cards in order to access the HAL’s resources. Pictured above from left are David Lloyd, children’s librarian Andrea Milliren, library director Noelle Kramer, Kieth Riefenstahl, Jason Stern, Robyn Heppenheimer and Bob Kachmar. (Contributed photo)
Lost amid the back-and-forth battle over library services in Lower Saucon Township have been the voices of township residents with limited financial resources, some of whom have been impacted by the loss of Hellertown Area Library borrowing privileges.
Fortunately for these residents, a dedicated, caring group of teachers from the Saucon Valley School District recently stepped up to fundraise money for HAL membership scholarships.
The funds totaling $1,400 were presented to library staff on Tuesday, which fittingly enough happened to be Valentine’s Day.
“The Membership Scholarship fund…was established to ease any lingering financial burdens on Lower Saucon Township members who need to purchase their own cards or access,” explained Larry O’Donnell, president of the Friends of the Hellertown Area Library, which was involved in coordinating the fundraising effort.
Lower Saucon Township is currently reimbursing residents who purchase library cards up to $40 per household, but proof of purchase is required and the cost of Hellertown Area Library household memberships–at $50 each–exceeds the maximum reimbursement amount.
“Reimbursement from the township…is a reportedly confusing task, especially for kids and non-drivers,” O’Donnell said.
All Lower Saucon Township residents were served by the Hellertown Area Library until Jan. 1, when the township’s removal from HAL’s service area took effect. That removal occurred nearly a year after Lower Saucon Township Council rejected a new five-year library services agreement in lieu of making a one-time donation to the HAL, which its board of trustees later rejected. Subsequent efforts to broker a new agreement failed, and although a township donation to the Southern Lehigh Public Library last year was accepted by the SLPL board, there is currently no library services agreement in effect between Lower Saucon Township and SLPL or any other book-lending institution.
The result, some residents have said, has been confusion and in some cases reduced access to the materials they previously borrowed from HAL and other PA Access libraries.
Even if township residents buy an in-house library card from HAL or another library that sells them, its current usefulness is limited. Under state regulations, until or unless the township funds a library at a level that will qualify it as Lower Saucon’s “home library,” cards purchased by township residents may only be used at the institutions selling them.
HAL director Noelle Kramer said this has also caused some confusion, since the availability of some in-house resources is based on the state’s “home library” funding system.
Lower Saucon Township officials are challenging their removal from HAL’s service area by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries in court; a process that is likely to be lengthy.
Tuesday’s focus, however, was on the positive steps community members are taking to try and limit the impact of what some residents in both communities see as a needless fight.
There were broad smiles amid the shelves as Friends president and Saucon Valley teacher David Lloyd along with teachers Kieth Riefenstahl, Jason Stern, Robyn Heppenheimer and Bob Kachmar presented Kramer and children’s librarian Andrea Milliren with a ceremonial check representing the donation. Both librarians said they are grateful for the support.
Kramer said library staff will promote the availability of membership scholarships to patrons, while school counselors will help identify families that may benefit from them, Lloyd said.
The membership scholarships will be available to library patrons without any requirement to demonstrate financial need, Kramer said. The only requirement is township residency.
The HAL also sells library cards to Freemansburg residents, but Kramer said demand for them has been low.
When the library began selling cards to Lower Saucon residents in January, she said there was an initial rush to get them, with demand leveling off since then.
For more information about a library member scholarship, contact the Hellertown Area Library by calling 610-838-8381 or via the contact form on HellertownLibrary.org.
To learn more about how to support the library or become a member of the Friends of the Hellertown Area Library, click here, email fr***************************@gm***.com or visit the Friends’ Facebook page.
