Galena Park has a new location

MAY 1987 A MONTHLY STAFF NEWSLETTER OF HARRIS COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY GALENA PARK LIBRARY HAS A NEW LOCATION "It1 s a big plus all around" is how Karen Switz, Branch Librarian at Galena Park, describes their new branch library. The Galena Park library closed the doors of its 1,066 square foot building Saturday, April 11th, moved into a 3,000 square foot building at 100 Main Street in Galena Park, and reopened Monday, May 4th. Karen said that the patron response has been "all positive" and that "everybody is really thrilled and pleased" with the new library. The increase of space allows more shelf space for books, more seating space for patrons, and more shelf space for records and audio-visual materials which was very limited in the old build¬ ing. A lounge area for viewing periodicals, a copy machine, and a defi- nate division of the adult and juvenile areas are new features that will benefit the patrons. The staff, too, will enjoy all these features as well as other new features. A staff work¬ room has been added and there are now two rest¬ rooms, one for the staff and one for the public. The Galena Park Library now operates using the automated circulation system. This change occured shortly after reopening. Moving the library mater¬ ials and furniture began Monday, April 13th. The Galena Park staff of Karen Switz, Peggy Warnock, and Betty Alexander along with the help of Rhoda Goldberg, Elaine Plotkin, and Darryl Boyer boxed up the books to be moved. County workers supplied by Pre¬ cinct Two moved everything to the new location and the old building was empty by mid-Tuesday. Reshelving the books and other library materials was completed by Wednesday afternoon. Micky Onice, a Senior Aide at the Galena Park Branch Library, also helped reshelf. Then, the circulation desk was assembled, and stocked with supplies and circulation terminals, and finally organized. The workroom was arranged and filled with supplies and all the final touches were made to the entire library prior to the reopening. New patrons are coming to the library as well as the regular patrons accord ing to Karen Switz. She said that during just the first five days at the new location she noticed that the high school students are coming in more. The new Galena Park Library is "a big plus all around" as Karen Switz described it. The branch is better equipped to satisfy the library needs of its patrons and our staff is eager to do just that. VITA Program at Libraries Helped Taxpayers by Elaine Plotkin, Adult Specialist The words "Income Tax" can cause a great deal of stress and apprehension. However, this was not the case for the more than 1,500 Harris County resi¬ dents who received income tax assistance at the nine Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites located in Harris County Public Library branches. The VITA program is just one of the many programs offered by the Internal Revenue Service through their Taxpayer Education Division. This office coordinates volunteers from both the IRS and the general public who are trained to assist the pub¬ lic at designated sites during the income tax filing season. VITA is a program that provides assistance to taxpayers, free-of-charge, who are unable to prepare their own returns or cannot afford to pay for profes¬ sional assistance. At a recent Volunteer Appreciation Reception, hosted by the IRS, the Harris County Public Library System was recog¬ nized for its six year participation in the VITA program and for having a 25 percent increase in the number of taxpayers assis¬ ted at HCPL sites this filing season over last filing season. Tomball Branch Library was singled out for having had the fourth largest percentage increase of taxpayers assisted at the 71 sites Continued on page 2.