Return to Reflections index page
issue date - September 15, 2002
Town of Collins Library Centennial - Part 2
... Collins librarians through the years
Elsie Moss and her pet deer
Florence Bartlett was the next librarian and served during the time the library moved into the newly built Community House in 1917. Bartlett was one of the most active in getting the Community House built and also served on its board of managers.
Following Bartlett's death in 1920, Mrs. Hollenbeck, assistant librarian, was in charge until Mary Hummel was appointed. Records are not clear as to how long Hollenbeck filled the librarian post and when Hummel was appointed.
It was during Hummel's stint as librarian that a newspaper clipping giving the financial report of the Collins Free Library Association showed that for the last six months of 1923, the librarian's salary was the magnificent sum of $35. Can anyone deny that town residents were getting a real bargain at less than $6 a month?
During this same time frame the janitor was paid $71.75. Dare we question the association's priorities? To be fair, we should also mention it was only three years earlier that women had fmally won the right to vote and equal opportunity was still more than a half a century down the road.
Hummel continued as librarian until 1937 when her daughter-in-law, Louise Hummel, took over the position and served 22 years until she retired in 1959. Elaine Prince then became librarian and a steady increase in both volume of circulation and in new books and periodicals began that continues to this day.
During the late 1960s, the entire juvenile department was remodeled and the Collins collection brought completely up to date through the assistance of Diane Chrisman, the Erie County Library children's coordinator. During the mid- and late-'70s, Collins Library was affected by cutbacks in county funding that necessitated reducing to nine the hours the library was open each week. Prince steered a steady ship during the uncertainties of the time and the library showed a gradual return to its formal level by the early '80s.
Delores Gugino enjoying retirement
The technological age and increasing requirements by the county library system soon made it apparent that the Collins Library, if it were to survive, would need considerably more space than it had in the town building and Gugino turned her talents toward enlargement efforts.
With Gugino's retirement in 1998, a new era arrived with the present librarian Karen Koch at the helm. Support for a new library building grew.
Perseverance and countless hours of hard work by library personnel, community volunteers, county and town library boards, and county and town officials, the turbulent years culminated on Aug. 12, 2000 with a ground-breaking ceremony for the new library.
The new modern facility was completed the following year with a grand opening held Saturday, Oct. 27, 2001, thus bringing to fruition the dreams and efforts of a long and distinguished line of librarians who for the past 100 years fervently held to the belief that a library provides the key to mental and social growth not only for individuals but also for the town itself.
Karen Koch shoveling out the book drop.