Writing a new chapter for Port library

The Niederkorn Library in Port Washington is a bustling place, and Director Tom Carson said it’s time to reinvest in that space to create a more relevant library into the future.

As part of that effort, Carson is hoping to raise enough money to launch the W.J. Niederkorn Library Foundation this year.

“There’s a large untapped base of support for the library, and we need to tap into it,” Carson said. “A foundation would give us that extra stream of revenue that we need to fund new initiatives.”

The library has a long list of needs and wants, everything from providing more technology to adding more dynamic programming for adults and children, and Carson said a foundation could help meet these needs.

“We really need to create a library that is relevant and comfortable and browse-able,” he said. 

The annual city budget allocation is only $33 per capita, which isn’t enough to finance all the library’s needs, Carson said.

“It’s low,” he said. “We’re well used.”

Seventy percent of city residents have library cards, Carson said. While some people exclusively use the library’s digital content — Carson said he calls it the library’s “digital branch” — others make good use of the facility itself. Last week Tuesday, he noted, more than 700 people came through the door of the library to use its resources.

And those resources aren’t cheap. Books are expensive, and ebooks, which many people think cost less than paper versions, are also pricey, Carson said, noting that after an ebook has been checked out 26 times, the library has to purchase it again.

“We don’t have to do that for print books,” he said. “They (ebooks) are three to four times as costly for a library.”

The library, he noted, is more than a building.

“It’s a place for books and library materials, for WiFi and computers. It’s also a place to study, a place to have small group meetings. It’s a place for tutoring and for outreach efforts,” Carson said. “We need a better space for that.”

Carson sees a foundation as a valuable resource. He’s familiar with what they can do, having worked at the Kenosha Public Library when it started a foundation.

“I saw what could happen,” he said. The library quickly raised more than $300,000 and was able to use the proceeds from investing the money to finance new initiatives that ranged from outreach programs to technology projects.

“It really does help you try new things and see how they fit,” Carson said.

The W.J. Niederkorn Library Foundation would be run through the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, which Carson said is “a well respected, well run organization” that would invest the library’s funds. 

The library would then use the proceeds allowing the principle to continue earning interest in perpetuity. 

The city could not tap those funds for other needs in the community, Carson said, adding the library board would serve as the foundation board and direct where the funds are used.

The library has $65,000 of the $100,000 needed to create the foundation — most of it from past donations. 

Money donated to the foundation would be tax-deductible, and it would also be able to accept gifts from estates.

Carson’s goal is to launch the foundation by the end of this year, with an eye toward using the funds in the next several years.

The fundraising campaign for the foundation follows the theme “Reinvest, reimagine and rediscover the Niederkorn Library.” 

In addition to launching the foundation, Carson is also hoping to reinvigorate the Friends of the Niederkorn Library, which he said is largely inactive although it continues to host the library’s ongoing book sale and funds the summer reading program.

“The goal is to get an active Friends group as well,” he said. “They are both advocates for the library, they’re both fundraisers, but they have different structures.

“A strong library has a strong friends group and a strong foundation and strong support from their community — you need all three.”

Carson said that in addition to materials, the foundation could help support a needed building project in the future.

The library needs such things as a new roof, energy-efficient windows, remodeled restrooms, a kitchen and technology improvements in the community room and new carpeting in the adult section, Carson said. While a foundation can help with such things as furnishings, the city would have to bear the cost of the bulk of a building renovation project.

“The Niederkorn has such a great infrastructure. It just needs a little love and care,” he said. “We need to reimagine how to use this building.

The foundation, like the library itself, is an investment in the future, Carson said. He noted that one of the first places people moving to the city stop is the library.

“The library really should be looked at as an essential part of economic development,” Carson said. “We offer a lot of resources for people for a little bit of money, and we offer a lot of one-on-one service to people.

“I really think a library should be a priority in our community,” he added. “In many cases, we are a bedrock of democracy. We encourage literacy. We’re a place anyone can go to use resources, to learn about things, to connect with others.”

Donations may be dropped off or mailed to the library, 316 W. Grand Ave., with a note that the funds are intended for the foundation.