History of the Perry Public Library, 1929-1992.
The Waltman family dates back about 35 years when Mildred Haines, Marjorie Blackmore and then Eleanor Plummer were librarians. In October, 1928, the club of women of Perry, headed by Mrs. Emma West, met to discuss starting a library. On February 22, 1929, the Library officially opened in two rooms in the Champion Home. Eleanor pointed out that Mickey Mouse and Popeye were also born that year, plus the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression.
The Library was open 16 hours, four afternoons a week. The collection at first consisted entirely of gift books. With donations of money, the Board voted to buy some new books and at the end of the first year, 1125 books were accessioned. Volunteers took turns serving as librarians. In August, 1929, the Board voted to have a paid librarian at 50¢ per hour.
The Library managed financially, with donations and financial help from the Township Trustees: $1000 in 1930, $1500 in 1931 and regularly until 1939. In 1934, the Library began receiving support from the Intangibles Tax, as did the other libraries in the county. Operating expenses increased from $550 in 1931 to $877 in 1941. However, the bank balance was $2200 as the ladies knew how to save money. The nest egg grew to $20,000 when time came to buy property and furnishings for the new library. Much later the library was told is wasn’t legal to salt money away – it was supposed to be used for operating expenses only.
In 1946, we made our first annual State Library report. Our budget was $1680 and we spent $1080, of which $517 went for salaries – we purchased 289 books for $356, bringing our book collection to 5714. Circulation was 7950 and we had 827 registered borrowers. We had a staff of two. The Library became an Association Library in 1953.
In 1956, we opened the Library 32 hours a week.
In the 1950’s a new building was discussed, but the Attorney General ruled that Association Libraries had no legal right to apply to the Township Trustees to put a bond issue on the ballot. So plans were shelved and the kitchen of the Champion Home was made into a third library room.
In 1961, Ohio passed a law which gave permission to Township Trustees to contract for Library services and then put a levy on the ballot to finance this service. Trustees were willing, and in 1966 a 5-year, one mill levy for library services was put on the ballot and the levy passed. However, money would not start coming in until 1968 and all would not be in until 5 years after that. A bank loan was made and in May, 1969, bids were opened.
June 4, 1969 ground was broken for the new building. In January, 1970 Betty Waltman was added to the staff and we moved into the new building. Just before we moved, our circulation reached 22,768; we had 1,534 patrons, and a collection of 11,200 books. In the State Library report for 1970, after one year in the new Library, we were open 42 hours, had 1896 patrons, a budget of $23,706 and circulation was 29,414. Our book collection was 12,450.
In 1974, Friends of the Library was organized. The membership drive raised over $1000 and has been active ever since. The Friends group has been a great help to the Library and we are grateful. The spaciousness in our new Library was unbelievable. Top shelves were empty – lots of floor space – but not for long. Shelving was added to the ends of the stacks – more reference and magazine shelving were added.
In 1974 Eleanor Plummer retired, leaving Betty Waltman at the helm. Space became acute. Sleepless nights and a meeting at Kirtland Library solved the problem. I discovered stacks could be closer. With our shelving man’s help, Jim supervised the ordering and placing of new shelves to make room for 5000 books. We thanked the Friends Group and the Board for their physical help.
In 1976, the Township Trustees, at the request of the library board, put a tax levy on the ballot (3/4 mill for 5 years), when the County Budget Commission failed to allocate sufficient funds, even after Dan Supanick attended our annual Association Meeting and promised to do better after hearing the Librarian’s annual report. The levy was renewed in 1981 and again in 1986. All levies passed.
In 1989, circulation was 103,420; we purchased 3967 books, book collection totals 36,707; we have almost 4,000 registered borrowers; our present budget is $247,600 and our staff numbers 17. I might add that we now derive our support from the Ohio Income Tax.
The Library joined the CLEVNET consortium of libraries in 1992.