Changes afoot as Rappahannock County Library looks to future
New fundraising arm will assist with renovation or relocation; community survey to go out
The Rappahannock County Library Board of Trustees is nearing a contract with a Richmond architecture rm to help guide library renovation or relocation possibilities, while a new Rappahannock Library Fund has been created to raise signi cant capital for future needs.
Through the architecture group Enteros Design, the library in coming months will invite the community to participate in a survey — online or in hard copy — to determine what residents would like to see in their county library for the next 20 years.
“I’m excited for what can happen and waiting to see what the community wants,” the library’s director, Amanda Weakley, said during a Zoom interview last Friday.
“I have ideas and ideals of course,” she told the News. “There's room for more community space, study rooms, I'd like to provide more access to technology, we could use more teen space — I recently started a teen program at the library and I'd like to see that grow. So we really want to reach as many people as possible with the survey and nd out what is really wanted and meet the needs of the community.
“I’ve been to some new libraries recently and it’s very exciting to see the possibilities,” Weakley added, equating a modern 21st century library to a “community center in and of itself.”
Also participating in the online interview were Library Board of Trustees President Victoria Fortuna and Rappahannock County resident Bill Dietel, the latter spearheading the formation of the Rappahannock Library Fund.
Fortuna at the start addressed “rumors” that the library already had intentions of moving from its present
hilltop location on Library Road to a proposed nine-acre mixed-use development, Black Kettle Commons, at the entrance to the Town of Washington.
As envisioned by Black Kettle’s owner and town resident Charles T. “Chuck” Akre — and pending a required boundary adjustment from the county — the development would be home to a new food pantry, a community/meeting center, o ces for nonpro ts, a ordable housing units, retail
space and more, including possibly an education center and the library.
Akre told this newspaper in December: “We’ve had discussion with the library [board] — they’ve approached us, we’ve had conversations with them, we know they are on their own trying to gure out what they want to do [in the future]. That’s a possibility.”
Minutes of the board’s Aug. 27 meeting stated “there may be a possible option of land use … on the ‘Black
Kettle’ land owned by Chuck Akre. Mr. Akre is leasing a portion of this land to the Rappahannock Food Bank for $1 a year. There is a possibility he may be willing to make the same deal to the library.”
Fortuna con rmed on Friday that the trustees “put out feelers” in “exploring moving the library” to Black Kettle. “We should keep all of our options open,” she stressed, adding that no nancial o er, similar to the food pantry deal, was ever extended to the library by Akre.
“We’ve told Chuck Akre we'd like to see what he has in mind,” said the library president. “He would like his project to be a ‘community center’ and having the library there would be a big attraction towards that. … [Beyond that the] library board has made no decisions whether we’re staying put or leaving … however it does make sense for us to explore all possibilities.”
At the same time, she pointed out that the library’s current location presents challenges with expansion, which wouldn’t come until the community survey is completed. The board would then determine: “What can we do here with the property and the lot, the way the land is, [a] hilly front and shallow back? There are constraints there.”
Fortuna added: “This is a big long project, it's going to take a while. Hopefully in the spring we’ll have the survey.”
LIBRARY FUNDRAISING
As described by Dietel, who brings to the table 50 years of experience consulting foundations, organizations and individuals about philanthropy, the library has long enjoyed the volunteer and nancial assistance provided by the organization Friends of the Library.
“It's very important that it be clear that the Friends are going to continue to raise money annually, but their fundraising is for modest expenses,” Dietel pointed out. “They're not in the position, nor do they wish to raise any big capital funds. So we created something called the Rappahannock Library Fund, which is a 501(c)(3). And that organization can undertake raising the capital that the trustees might need — seems to me inevitably they’ll need — whether they stay here or go over to Black Kettle.”
He also drew attention to a “most unusual arrangement” that currently exists whereby funds raised by the Friends “have to go into state managed monies. Now, if the library is going to expand signi cantly, and if it were instead to go to the Black Kettle property, substantial capital … would have to be raised. And as an old fundraiser there's not a prayer in hell that anybody’s going to give this institution serious money if that money goes into this [state] fund. Thats crazy.”
Past substantial library contributions — most recently a $75,000 donation from a local property owner, on top of a previous $1 million gi — have been funneled into the state fund, its goal to earn the going interest rate.
“They are a wonderful organization,” Fortuna said of the Friends.
“They run the Book Barn, participate in Give Local Piedmont, and they do an annual [fundraising] letter. They have a nice fund and support us anytime we need something. … For example, they just bought us, last March or April, a whole new audio visual system here in the [library’s] Jameson Room, because prior to COVID this was the only room in the county that was available for free for various groups to meet.”
The Friends president is Kathleen Robertson, who told this newspaper Tuesday: “We have met with Bill and Victoria and have agreed to be part of the team and will coordinate going forward, but again we see our role as assisting as needed. We will remain an independent organization so that we can prioritize investment assistance as needed.”
Robertson, as the others, stressed the continued importance of the Friends: “Our board members as well as those who work at the Book Barn are all volunteers, no one is paid. We are fortunate that we have a committed group of volunteers who do an incredible job of sorting through donated books, organizing them and selling them when the Book Barn is open.
“Any donations which we receive are tax deductible to the donor. Our two principal fundraising activities are from the sale of the donated books at the Book Barn, which is situated next to the library, and an annual fundraising letter that we send out to the community in the fall.”
Besides the new media equipment, Friends have purchased new computers — and computer assistance/consulting used by many in the community — funded the library’s children's summer reading program, landscaping, and other projects as needed.
“We are currently working with the library sta to address the issue of how best to replace the computers in the library,” Robertson pointed out.
Contact the library for information on how to contribute to either Friends of the Library or the Rappahannock Library Fund.