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BY ROD HANSEN
Two weeks before the recent April floods, an engineer’s report alerted library officials to potential trouble in the building’s drainage system.
An insufficient depth for the drains constructed for a 1991 building addition, as well as possible clogging in drainage pipes, were among problems cited in a report trustees reviewed at their meeting on April 3, said Library Director Christine Hague.
On the morning of Monday, April 16, an inch of floodwater entered the library’s basement-level Children’s Room due to the weekend’s nor’easter rains.
Firefighters put children’s books on shelves to protect them from water damage the morning of the flood, said Hague. Volunteers helped in putting the more than 6,000 books, magazines and audio/visual materials that make up the children’s collection into storage at town hall and in the library’s Sawyer Conference Room, she said.
The library now finds itself in a quandary for a number of reasons, Hague said. Namely, she said the library needs to raise money for a drainage study and improvements to the building.
With summer serving as the most popular time of the year for children’s programs, she said the library also needs to determine where to host those programs while the Children’s Room waits repair.
A number of other questions also linger regarding the Children’s Room, she said.
"We still need to define the project, and this is all very slow because of the nature of the investigation.
We’re proceeding carefully because we want to make sure we do everything
right," she said.
The town’s Department of Public Works was scheduled to dig a test pit the week beginning Monday, May 7, to investigate some of the library’s drainage issues, said Hague. The depth of the drains from the 1991 addition and potential clogging issues were among the issues likely to be investigated through the test pit.
Director of Public Works Carl Knapp could not be reached to elaborate on other areas to be investigated through digging a test pit.
Hague said money for a drainage investigation will have to come through fundraising, as the library and the town as a whole are operating with limited resources.
"Trustees have discussed the need for substantial funding for (a drainage investigation) with the Board of Selectmen. However, the request comes at a time when town resources were already
strained," Hague said.
One local parent has already developed plans to raise money for the library’s flood expenses.
Mary Couture, a Weare mother who said she frequently brings her two children to the library, has planned a handful of events to assist in library fundraising efforts.
Couture has arranged for the Bedford Youth Performing Company Jazz Band to play a concert at the Holy Cross Community Center on Center Road on Friday, June 1, beginning at 7 p.m.
The following day, a benefit car wash has been scheduled in the parking lot of Lanctot’s Plaza on Route 114 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to coincide with the town- wide yard sale.
Musician Ben Rudnick and members of the Storytellers Guild of New Hampshire will also perform in separate events to benefit the library, Couture said. Details for both of those events have not been finalized yet.
"I think people are just starting to realize all of what the library does, in terms of its story times or just being a place that has lots of nooks and crannies for children to come and enjoy reading. And when something like (the flooding) happens, I think you’ll see that people are very willing to help
out," Couture said.
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