The Children's Room will be completely refurbished - partly with city funds and partly from a drive headed by Mayor Charles Gilb. It will be renamed the Jerry Broadwell Children's Library as a memorial to Fire Captain Jerry Broadwell who died in a fire in August 1975.
With the musical production revived when an addition to the High School Little Theater was guaranteed, the High School will present "Fiddler on the Roof" May 3-6 at the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium.
"Wild About Reading" is the theme for the summer program to be sponsored by the Jerry Broadwell Children's Room of Arcadia Public Library. Registration begins June 6 through July 18.
The City Council approved an application for $9 million in state funds to build a new library. If the state awards the funds and the council accepts them, the city would have to contribute $7 million toward the new library.
City officials, residents, and School Board members gathered to formulate plans to try once again to get a civic auditorium. In 1965 and 1971 efforts toward this goal fell short.
Meetings have been held recently to study the feasibility of a new effort to get the community behind an auditorium. Representatives at these meetings have been members of the School Board, activists for the city, and ex-mayor Alton Scott.
Due to a shrinking budget the audio-visual department of the Arcadia Public Library has been closed by the City Council. The Arcadia school system has been offered the films and equipment, worth approximately $100,000. The cuts in the library budget will also mean reduction in personnel and operating hours. These matters are discussed.
Arcadia High School held a drive and collected $800 toward a municipal auditorium. A non-profit corporation is being established and it will be the nucleus for an auditorium drive to begin in September 1977.
"Notes from the Library," a new monthly column in the Arcadia Tribune make its debut in the December 14 issue of the paper. Dennis Petticoffer will author the column.
The City Council approved a recommendation to hire Glendale-based Charles Walton Associates to prepare a library building program. The proposal will cost between $50,000 and $55,000 and the new library will cost approximately $7 million.
A new $340,000 computer system will be installed in the library. using Inlex software and Hewlet Packard hardware, the library will automate the card catalog and the circulation desk providing better control of the library's 150,000 books and 240 periodicals.
A new or improved public library could become a reality in the near future. The current library is bursting at the seams with increasing amounts of books, computer equipment and an increasing number of people using the 28-year-old library.