[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 82 (Thursday, June 6, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO THE WALDWICK, NJ, PUBLIC LIBRARY

                                 ______


                           HON. MARGE ROUKEMA

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 6, 1996

  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the Waldwick, NJ, 
Public Library on its 40th anniversary.
  The library has been a centerpiece of the Waldwick community for four 
decades, serving not only as a repository of books but as a meeting 
center and sponsor of a variety of civic and cultural activities. The 
anniversary is being marked with a week-long celebration including a 
picnic, baking contest, children's activities and a musical 
performance.
  The celebration of the library's anniversary and, indeed, the history 
of how the library came to be are evidence of why Waldwick is one of 
Bergen County's premier communities. Waldwick is a community where 
residents take pride, neighbors help one another and citizens work 
together for the betterment of the borough. There are few better places 
to live and raise a family.
  Following in the tradition of this long-held community spirit, the 
Men's Club of Waldwick opened the borough's first public library in a 
basement room of the Waldwick Grammar School in 1941. Showing ingenuity 
and resourcefulness, members of the club built shelves from lumber 
salvaged form the old Franklin Turnpike school and filled them with 
donated books.
  A decade later, the men's club and the Waldwick Women's Club joined 
with the parent teachers association, veterans' groups and other 
residents in a community-wide effort to raise funds to build the 
current library. Fund-raising activities included 200 volunteers 
canvassing the town to sell bricks, and three town residents who won 
$875 by appearing on a television quiz show. The $19,000 building, 
constructed in part from sandstone blocks salvaged from the old Bamper 
Hotel (perhaps ``waste not, want not'' should be the library motto), 
was dedicated June 24, 1956. Henry Spies was the first present of the 
board and Grace Sutherland the first librarian.
  The first addition to the library, made possible by funds raised by 
the Women's Club and Lion's Club, was dedicated in 1965 and put into 
service as the children's room. Further additions were made in 1972 and 
1980, providing space for the library's growing collection and a multi-
purpose room used for storage, meetings and library programs. The 
Friends of the Library was organized in 1971 to finish the new wing.
  Today the library is completely computerized and houses a collection 
of more than 40,000 books, videotapes and audio recordings, with an 
annual circulation of more than 85,000. The Friends sponsor a model 
railroad exhibit each year at Thanksgiving and other cultural 
activities.
  Whether it be a tiny small-town library, or the all-encompassing 
Library of Congress, libraries are among the most important public 
facilities our communities offer. They are a center for continual 
learning for everyone from children just learning their verbs and nouns 
to retirees who finally have the time to read the volumes they didn't 
get to in earlier years. As Thomas Carlyle said, ``The true university 
* * * is a collection of books.'' The citizens of Waldwick owe much to 
the founders and supporters of the Waldwick Public Library.

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