Submitted by William H. Teschek, Librarian

And Staff Of The Lane Memorial Library

After months of delays and hours of packing, moving, and unpacking, the Lane Library celebrated its grand opening and dedication on June 9, 1985. It was the culmination of ten years of work by scores of individuals and has since become a source of pride for all residents of Hampton. In the end, it was mainly the hours of work by the staff that made it all possible to open up and be ready to serve the public. A special congratulations to the entire staff of Joan Kahl, Jean Ewing, Ruth Ross, Marie Sullivan, Kathleen Dunbrack, Pam Jautaikis, Helen Skinner and Joanne Straight. It was also the results of many, many generous gifts, both in financial donations and hours of volunteer time. The list of people that made all of this possible is too long to record here. Our sincere thanks from the entire community go out to each and everyone of you.

The new building brought many new faces and new services. We registered 1,097 new patrons in 1985, many coming in after we moved to the new building. The circulation figures reflect the jump in registrations with a final total of 94,644 items circulated during the year. We fully expect this number to continue to grow at a very fast pace.

Some of the new services include the Lane Meeting room which has proven its need to the community by being in almost continual use. It is available free of charge to local, non profit organizations. We began renting video cassettes late in the fall and they have proven to be very popular. We expect our collection to grow as the popularity of this new media continues. Another new area of service we offer is the business room, which includes Moody’s Value Line, NH RSA’s, an excellent section of business magazines and telephone directories.

The large and bright new children’s room is a joy to everyone who walks in the door. It was a bustle of activity all year long with special activities arid daily story hours, five days a week. Kathleen Dunbrack and Pam Jautaikis are busy making wonderful plans for 1986.

Other services you can look forward to in 1986 include the use of computers, both for inter-library loan work, and for your own personal use; cassettes and records to borrow; art prints and museum tickets on loan; large print books and talking books for the visually impaired; programs for both children and adults, and shut-ins service to anyone who needs it. The Lane Library continues to grow in size and services. It is still your best bargain in town.

All in all it was a rewarding year and a busy one for the entire staff. A special thank you to Ann Hanson and The Friends of the Library for their continued support and to all our volunteers who generously give their time and energy to help us. We are all looking forward to 1986!