2010 Town Report - Town of Ludlow

FIRST MEETING HOUSE COMMITTEE
The First Meeting House Committee, appointed by the Board of Selectmen for the purpose of overseeing the
maintenance of the Meeting House building and premises, continues its mandate to keep the building and grounds
available for meetings and other reserved functions.
The Meeting House continues to be a venue for meetings of the Historical Commission, the first Meeting House
Committee, and the Ludlow Grange in the non winter months. The committee welcomes and invites other interested
organizations to consider scheduling their meetings at the First Meeting House, a centrally situated historic town
property. The Meeting House is located in Ludlow Center and is one of the few surviving examples remaining in
the Connecticut River Valley of the New England barn-type meeting house.
Although the Committee did not meet during the past year, members worked with the Selectmen’s office and the
DPW to monitor and maintain the building and the grounds. With historical grant funding, the DPW replaced all the
windows. The downstairs of the building has been repainted inside, the building has been winterized, and the alarm
system is operational. A small amount of ceiling tile damage in the kitchen is being repaired. The Committee is
pleased to report that after a winter of heavy snow, there was no snow or ice damage to the building.
Present members of the Committee are Jerry Kavka, Marilyn Paul-Lewis, Thomas Haluch, Elsie Hiersche, Donald
Kibbe, Karen Cuthbert, and Bert Ramage. The Committee welcomes new volunteers who would like to help with
restoration and preservation activities. The Committee also thanks Betty Kibbe and the Historical Commission for
their assistance in promoting the preservation and utilization of the Meeting House.
The Friends of the First Meeting House welcome gifts and thank those who have so kindly donated in the past to the
preservation fund.
The Committee will continue to work to promote, maintain, and improve our Town’s Historic Meeting House.
Respectfully submitted,
Jerry Kavka
Chairman
HUBBARD MEMORIAL LIBRARY
”OUR LIBRARIES CREATE DREAMS. IF YOU TAKE AWAY THE LIBRARIES, YOU TAKE
AMERICA’S DREAMS AWAY.” ILKER TURGUN.
Every day, at one of the 16,600 libraries in the United States, people follow their dreams. The library builds a
foundation for the dreams of the future when growth in population, innovative new technologies and conservative
budgets will present new challenges in the years ahead. Every day, libraries expand our horizons, find answers to
our questions, and help grow small businesses. Job seekers get the information needed to find new employment, and
we learn to use new technologies. And, we even check out books, movies, music, puppets and puzzles! Fact:
Public libraries circulate as many materials every day as FedEx ships packages worldwide. Circulation of Hubbard
Memorial Library’s materials increased by 6% in 2010. Fact: Every day, Americans borrow 2.1 million DVDs from
libraries. Our circulation of music (CDs), books on CD, and movies (DVDs) saw a 36% increase in 2010, despite
the library’s gradual withdrawal of VHS cassettes and books on cassette from the collection. All VHS cassettes will
be withdrawn from the collection during 2011. The library added a selection of Playaways, preloaded digital audio
players and books in MP3 format to the collection in 2010. Non-print materials accounted for 42% of the library’s
total circulation in 2010. Fact: Every day, 300,000 people get job-seeking help at a public library. Job hunters have
discovered that the Internet is the primary conduit for connecting with potential employers. Use of our library’s 11
Internet computers rose by 26% in 2010. Fact: Nearly 12,000 public libraries offer free Wi-Fi. That’s more than
Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and Borders put together. Not only patrons, but out-of-town visitors now bring their
laptops to access our library’s free Wi-Fi. Nearly 950,000 hits were tallied on the library’s website,
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