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2013 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 867
Commending the Handley Regional Library.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 15, 2013
Agreed to by the Senate, February 21, 2013

 

WHEREAS, the Handley Regional Library in Winchester celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2013; and

WHEREAS, in 1895 Judge John Handley of Scranton, Pennsylvania, left $250,000 in his will to “ . . . open a Public Library for the free use of the people of the city of Winchester forever”; and

WHEREAS, the Handley Board of Trustees hired architects J. Stewart Barney and Henry Otis Chapman of New York, who designed the nationally acclaimed Beaux-Arts inspired building; and

WHEREAS, the Handley Regional Library, then the Handley Library, opened in 1913 at a cost of $149,198 for the building and furnishings; an addition was added to the building in 1979 and a complete renovation, designed by Dennis Kowal Architects, was completed in 2001; and

WHEREAS, the library’s annual attendance in 1915 was 52,902, which has risen to over 357,000 visits annually; and

WHEREAS, the number of materials circulated annually in 1915 was 29,851, which increased to 760,235 by 2010; and

WHEREAS, the total collection of books and magazines was 6,000 in 1915 and now stands at over 302,000 books, magazines, and digital materials, including audio books, CDs, DVDs, and e-books; and

WHEREAS, the population served by the Handley Regional Library has expanded from an estimated 26,265 in 1915 to nearly 120,000; and

WHEREAS, the Handley Library became a regional library when Frederick County joined the public library system in 1979 and Clarke County joined the system in 1981; and

WHEREAS, designed by the Lukmire Partnership, an architectural firm in Arlington, the Mary Jane & James L. Bowman Library opened in July 2001 and was the first public library building in Frederick County; and

WHEREAS, the Clarke County Library was opened in Berryville in 1985 and moved to a new location in the Berryville-Clarke County Government Center in 2009; and

WHEREAS, the citizens of the Counties of Clarke and Frederick and the City of Winchester have had uninterrupted library services since August 22, 1913; the history of the library is captured in a heavily illustrated volume entitled Handley Regional Library: The First One Hundred Years, published in January 2013; and

WHEREAS, the Friends of Handley Regional Library, founded in 1977, has been a staunch ally of the library in enhancing library services throughout the region; and

WHEREAS, the Handley Regional Library is a model for successful cooperation between private citizens and local governments; and

WHEREAS, through the support of community members and businesses, the Handley Regional Library endowment fund has grown from $299,412 in the 1992 - 1993 fiscal year to a total of $2,130,000 in the 2012 - 2013 fiscal year; and

WHEREAS, the Handley Regional Library provides exceptional public facilities and services, including information and computer literacy, youth and adult programs, a repository of regional history and genealogy, and materials and programs that meet a wide variety of needs from books to e-books to audiovisuals; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend the Handley Regional Library on the occasion of its 100th anniversary; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Handley Regional Library as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for the library’s century of excellence in service to the citizens of the Counties of Clarke and Frederick and the City of Winchester.