Library campaign raises $2 million
Sections named for top fundraising donors
As construction of the new Annapolis Regional Library moves toward completion, the building has sparked donations to the Library Foundation’s fundraising campaign, totaling $2 million so far.
Part of the fundraising effort includes naming parts of the building for top donors who also got a first look inside the new facility this week.
“This is going to be a great addition to the Annapolis community and I am really excited about the new building,” said Cathy Belcher after taking a tour. She and her husband John will have the facility’s conference room named for them. “John and I are so proud to be able to contribute.”
So far 12 rooms or elements of the building on West Street have been named and represent some $765,000 of the donations made to the “Beyond Your Expectations: The Campaign for the Library.”
The campaign and all its donations are not solely for the Annapolis branch, mind you.
The Anne Arundel County Library has been allowed to raise funds via the campaign since the County Council approved a resolution empowering such.
“That gave us the opportunity to create the Beyond Your Expectations campaign. All of the money we raise as part of the campaign goes to all the branches in the system,” said Christine Feldmann, library spokeswoman. “The new library construction provided an opportunity for people to contribute and make a donation for named spaces.”
There has been a great range of donations with the most generous being $250,000, Feldmann said.
And there are several naming opportunities still available including the Quiet Room, Children’s Zone, Tech Zone, Teen Area and more. On the low end, a donor can have a stack named for them for a $5,000 donation. For a minimum of $2,500, a Beyond Your Expectations donor can have their name placed on the donor wall in the entry lobby.
“The library is a central function for any city like Annapolis. And from a business and educational perspective this is what we really need to see in this area. They have done a great job,” said John Belcher.
Sam Brown, a donor and foundation board member, said the donations to the library go about as far as a donation to any community organization can go.
“There are a lot of charities out there and a few I consider donating to. The library is one of the great charitable foundations. The Anne Arundel County Public Library Foundation is what I refer to as the PTA of the
library system because we make life better for the employees, the staff and the public that comes in.”
I urge everybody get to get involved, if they can, with the library because it is a free public library and a great bastion of democracy.”
This week’s tour took donors through the now cavernous shell of the building, with all the rooms constructed, doors hung, and some furnishing elements, like the sliding divider that can be used to split the 350-person capacity meeting room into two smaller settings, in place.
By the end of January, all construction is expected to be completed. Then the finishing touches — shelving, furnishings, computer installation, and finally books — arrive. The library is slated for a May opening.
To date, the major donors and their designated pieces of the new library include:
Community meeting and program space — Jane Campbell-Chambliss and Peter Chambliss
Community Living Room — Family of Sam and Donna Brown
Conference Room — John and Cathy Belcher
Cafe — Members of the 2018-19 AACPL Foundation Board of Directors Tinker Space — James and Ardith Harle Four Collaboration Spaces — Women of West Annapolis, Faith Goldstein and Jesse Cunitz, Barbara Maxwell and Ellen Wheeler Thorson
Community Bulletin Board — Joan Cass Beck
Flag Court — in memory of Capt. Edwin G. Greenberg, USN.