Friendly Help Needed
Friends of the Library moving, needs storage space
Moving day is coming soon for the Friends of the Porterville Library and right now it doesn’t have anywhere to store the thousands of boxes of books that belong to the organization.
Friends of the Library president Janice Whitaker said the lease the organization has with the City of Porterville for its house at 301 N. Hockett expires on September 30. Whitaker said the city has provided another building for all of its books up the street at 287 Hockett across from the Porterville Fire Station, but work still needs to be done before the building can be occupied. “There’s a lot to be done yet,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker said it was just a guess but she said she thought it would be three months before the organization can move into the building at its new location. She hopes the organization can stay in its current building for at least the first few days in October.
But in the meantime after the organization leaves its current site and until the new site is ready, it will need a place to store thousands of boxes of books. Whitaker said the organization has asked various storage businesses about storing all those books, but all of them say they don’t have that kind of space and their places have reached closed to capacity.
So Whitaker said the organization is looking for anyone who can provide space that’s the equivalent to two car garages. “Of course there’s the cost factor,” Whitaker said.
While Whitaker said the organization is willing to pay the normal rate for such storage, she added it’s looking for someone to provide storage space at as reasonable price as possible and obviously would love it if somebody donates the space.
Whitaker said the City of Porterville plans to tear down its current building to provide more parking for the downtown area.
Whitaker stressed the city has been cooperative over the years when providing the space for the organization and understands what needs to be done by the city. “The city needs parking downtown, we know that,” she said.
She said the city has been leasing the site to the organization for $1 a year. “You can’t beat that,” Whitaker said.
“The city has been extremely generous.”
Funds raised by Friends of the Library supports activities provided by the Porterville Public Library. Those activities have obviously been hampered when the library was destroyed by fire on February 18.
But that still doesn’t take away the fact Friends of the Library hasn’t been able to hold its monthly book sale since March to support the library. “That’s a few hundred dollars a month we normally make,” Whitaker said. “We haven’t made it.”
Because of restrictions due to COVID-19 which limits bookstores to minimal indoor operations and curbside service it hasn’t been feasible for Friends of the Library to hold its book sales.
Whitaker said the organization could use volunteers to help box up all the books for the move when the time comes. “We could definitely use some help,” she said.
She added the organization has received volunteer help from those such as Harmony Magnet Academy students, who volunteered as part of their community service requirement. “They were just terrific,” Whitaker said. “They were absolutely super.”
“The community has been very generous,” said Whitaker about those who donate books. But she added the organization would prefer those to hold off donating books for now.
“It would just add to what we need to box and put somewhere,” she said. “We would ask they wait until we’re permanently situated.”
Anyone who would like to help provide a space for the organization to store its books or would like to volunteer can call Whitaker, 788-8240.