Erie County finance committee members discussed several library-related donations and moved the items forward for appropriation at a recent meeting, allowing the county library to accept ongoing endowments and near-term programming grants.

Jessica, representing the county library, explained that an annual endowment from the Google Woods family covers two public-facing databases used by patrons and librarians: Novelist and Fold3. She said the endowment “covers 2 of our... databases that are used public use, 1 of which is called Novelist” and that Fold3 “holds mostly military related genealogical records.” The library asked the committee to accept the money and appropriate it for continued service.

Committee members also considered two sponsorships bundled into a single ordinance: a $2,000 UPMC Health Plan sponsorship to buy incentives for the summer library STEM program, and a $500 Remake Learning Grant earmarked for STEM programming for elementary and middle-grade students. Jessica said the library expected a PA Humanities grant originally budgeted at $4,000 but that the award actually came in at $5,000, and the committee was asked to appropriate the extra $1,000.

The committee chair asked that library staff schedule a visit so members could see the space and hear more about planned renovations and programming; library staff offered tour dates and said designers are preparing proposals for a forthcoming children’s renovation. The committee moved the library items forward. The transcript records staff offers to coordinate a tour and an invitation to the library advisory board meeting for additional detail.

The items discussed include accepting the endowment, appropriate grant dollars for summer programming and genealogical database access, and adjusting the budget to reflect the larger PA Humanities award.