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04/10/2018 04:00 PMThose driving by the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library in the past week might have noticed a new banner hanging in front of the building. While the colorful image might conjure up some thoughts of an Andy Warhol print, the banner is not an invitation for an art exhibit. It’s an invitation to give.
More than a year after the plan to renovate the library passed at referendum, the library’s Futures Campaign has formally kicked off its public giving phase. With the town bonding for $9 million of the renovation project and the library raising $6 million—$5 million of which is already in hand—the library is now asking the public to contribute to the building, embodying the spirit of its first and most significant donor Mary Eliza (M.E.) Scranton.
In 1900, Mary Eliza Scranton gifted the library and the land to the Town of Madison in memory of her father Erastus Clark (E.C.) Scranton. Her donation made the library a reality and now the library is hoping to inspire residents to “Be M.E.” and make their own donations to help build the new library, much the way Mary Eliza did more than 100 years ago. The banner hanging in front of the library was created using a portrait of Mary Eliza that currently hangs in the local history room of the library.
“‘Be M.E.’, Mary Eliza, we thought about her and her generosity and hoping that she could be an inspiration today,” said library volunteer Ellen Miller. “What she did in her time is still relevant in ours. That individual generosity still matters and still counts, so that is the story we are hoping to inspire people with.”
Prior to this phase of the campaign, the library had been reaching out to donors who might be willing to make large gifts for the construction. Now, the library is offering two options for residents to donate and put their name on the new building.
The options include “Buy a Brick” or “Buy a Tile”. Residents can buy different-sized bricks for either $200 or $300 that will be inscribed with messages of the donor’s choice and then installed at the entrance to the library. Residents can also chose to purchase an art tile for $100 that residents of any age can design and will later be installed in the children’s area of the new building.
“In the way that she, Mary Eliza, built an entire library, you can contribute a piece,” said Miller. “You have your piece of the new library.”
Library Board of Trustees member Nicole Wiles said the library hopes to bring the community together around this campaign, giving people a chance to buy a brick in memory of a loved one or in honor of someone important like a teacher or a coach.
“The bricks and the tiles are a good reason for people to come to the library to bring their family and say, ‘Oh here is our brick that remembers grandma or grandpa and let’s go into the library and borrow a book,’” she said. “You are building the library brick by brick and we want the community to be Mary Eliza.”
The campaign launched the first week of April and will continue through the end of the calendar year. According to Wiles, since Mary Eliza made the gift in 1900, the library hopes 1,900 residents will participate in this part of the campaign.
“There are approximately 10,000 visits to this library a month and initially we are hoping that the banner outside catches the community’s attention wanting to know what is this all about and they come into the library and then they get the story,” she said.
The campaign has already caught one person’s attention. Someone who has a firm grasp on Mary Eliza’s generosity, current resident Chris Scranton, has already purchased the first brick. For those interested in buying a brick or a tile, order forms are available in the library. To learn more about the campaign, visit www.scrantonlibrary.org/beme.
Many Ways to Contribute
While the public phase of the campaign is still underway, the library has already raised a significant amount of money through a number of donations through several funds over the past several months. One such fund is the Ted Mallory Memorial Fund. Early this year the library hit the $50,000 goal for the fund in just a few months.
Mallory joined the library board in 2000 and then served as president from 2006 to 2012. As Mallory held such an influential role, members of the library approached his wife, Nancy Mallory, to ask if she would be willing to have a memorial fund in his honor and she agreed.
“From the time he joined the library board in 2000, Ted was determined to fully support the library in achieving its goals,” Nancy Mallory said. “While some people feel that traditional libraries are becoming obsolete, Ted always felt that the library would evolve with the times to include many diverse purposes. Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, libraries were an important part of our lives. This stuck with Ted. He would be absolutely thrilled with the ongoing renovation and expansion plans, especially after the 2008 narrowly defeated referendum.”
Library Director Beth Crowley said the plan is to name one of the large meeting rooms in the new building after Mallory.
“The reason I picked that room is I think that is where we will have our board meetings in the future and it seemed very appropriate for that,” she said.