Kids can celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday with games, activities, crafts and a special story time on Friday, March 1, at our Main Branch.
From 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., children can play games and make crafts inspired by many of Dr. Seuss’s memorable picture books. We’ll also host a Seuss-pendous story time at 10:30 a.m. It’s open to all ages and no registration is required.
More than 27,000 people living in Lake County suffer from food insecurity. That is, they don’t always have confidence that they’ll be able to feed themselves or their family. That’s nearly 12 percent of the people in Lake County who struggle with hunger.
But you can help by supporting United Way of Lake County’s annual Feed Lake County food drive.
From now until the end of April, you can drop off nonperishable food at our Main, Lake and Headlands Branches and help Feed Lake County. You can also donate money if you prefer. Your donation will be shared with Lake County residents through the more than 50 food pantries in the county.
Support your neighbor by donating food and help Feed Lake County.
The Read House building was demolished on Monday, May 10.
Some of its joists and beams were set aside for use by Cardinal Woodworking, a local carpenter who specializes in building with reclaimed lumber. Cardinal Woodworking is repurposing parts of the building to create unique furniture for the library that honors the history of the Read House.
The library will continue to use the surrounding green space extensively this summer for outdoor story times and other programs for families.
Previously, the Mentor Public Library Board of Trustees voted to enter into a contract with ProSupply Inc. for the abatement and demolition of the Read House building (located next door to our Main Branch at 8245 Mentor Ave.) CT Consultants – the architect on the project – recommended ProSupply as the lowest responsible bidder.
The contract was in the amount of $54,434, including a $5,000 contingency.
Corey of Cardinal Woodworking reclaims the poplar flooring that will be used to make unique furniture that honors the history of the Read House building
Before the building was demolished, many of its unique furnishings were reclaimed and repurposed. Cardinal Woodworking reclaimed some of the building’s poplar flooring.
Additionally, Lake History Center is preserving some of its interior furnishings, including doorknobs and light fixtures, for posterity.
And the Mentor Fire Department used the roof for vertical ventilation training.
A firefighter from Mentor Fire Department practices vertical ventilation training.
Parts of the Read House were more than a century old, and the building would have needed extensive repairs if it were to continue being used by the public. While it’s difficult to guess how much renovation would cost because any repairs would require asbestos or lead-paint abatement, the library conservatively estimated in 2018 that it would require more than $200,000 for the building to meet public-safety standards. The cost would be even higher now.
The Read Property was purchased it in 2009. The Read House – the building specifically, not the property on which it stands – was available for purchase for 18 months. However, the library didn’t receive any offers. The library also contacted the Lake County History Center and Cleveland Restoration Society. While both organizations helpfully shared their expertise, neither were able to help find funds for renovation or were interested in procuring the building themselves.
The Read House lawn provides a unique opportunity to offer outdoor library programming. We’ve used its lawn and surrounding green space to host concerts, campfires, community art projects, story times, scavenger hunts, nature journaling programs, Summer Reading parties, and more. More than 11,000 of our patrons have attended programs there.
Meanwhile, the Read House building, built in 1868, has presented numerous challenges. Additions and repairs were made over a ten-year time period to try to make the private house more usable for the public, including:
Despite these renovations, it was still difficult to make a previously private home serve as a public building. The small rooms on the main floor could not be reconfigured because the walls are loadbearing. And the second floor does not have ADA access, nor can it structurally support anything more than light storage.
As a result, the use of the building has been limited. Book sales were held on the first floor and the front room was used for small group weekly children’s story time. Even then, the building’s small rooms and narrow halls presented obstacles to patrons, especially those with mobility issues.
Even before the pandemic, we’d moved all library programming and book sales from inside the Read House Building to our Main Branch.
Evaluation of the structure
In 2018, the library contracted with a construction company and an architect to assess how to make the house more usable to the public for library programming.
The company and architect recommended several repairs, including:
The library hired a specialist who confirmed that lead paint was present and asbestos was in the walls. Any potential structural repair inside the Read House building would require costly asbestos and lead paint abatement.
CT Consultants estimated the potential repairs would cost at least $117,000; Greater Cleveland Consultants estimated at least $134,500. Neither estimate includes contingencies, including asbestos or lead-paint abatement. We estimate the cost of repairs and needed contingencies and abatement at around $200,000 in 2018.
Before demolition, the value of the home was $49,270 according to the Lake County Auditor’s Office.
The library investigated possible funding sources – including reaching out to the state – to help pay for renovations, but none were found. Ultimately, it was deemed cost-prohibitive to renovate the building.
This left the library with two more options: sell the building or demolish it.
Without other options, the Board voted to contract with ProSupply Inc. for abatement and demolition of the Read House Building. The library will continue to use the surrounding property for outdoor programming.
Learn from the experts for free with your library card and LinkedIn Learning.
You can access thousands of online educational courses without charge using your Mentor Public Library card and LinkedInLearning!
You won’t need to create a LinkedIn profile to access courses from experts on everything from screenwriting to spreadsheets. All you’ll need is your card number and PIN. Wherever you work, whatever your hobby is — there’s a course that can make you better at it: from finance to photography, and making mobile apps to music composition,
It also offers training for popular software and developer tools, including the Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, and several coding languages.
The educational videos range from quick introductions to deep dives into specialized topics.
And they’re all free to watch with your library card. All you need is your card number and PIN to create your profile. If asked, Mentor Public Library’s ID number is oh0142.
Once you’ve done that, you can immediately browse the more than tens of thousands of educational videos waiting for you. And LinkedIn Learning’s collection is constantly updated so you can stay ahead of the curve in your chosen field.
For more online learning, check out Niche Academy. It’s free to use with a Mentor Public Library card.
You can now read thousands of newspapers and magazines from around the world with your Mentor Public Library card and our digital service, PressReader.
Read publications from hundreds of countries in dozens of languages! All you’ll need is your library card number and PIN.
There are three ways to access PressReader’s enormous catalog: our website, PressReader’s website, or the PressReader app.
To visit PressReader from our site, you can click on the link on our front page or databases index and start browsing immediately. If you visit PressReader’s site directly, you’ll need to search for Mentor Public Library, and then put in your library card number and PIN before you can begin browsing.
Finally, you can use PressReader’s app, which is available for Apple, Android, Microsoft, and Amazon devices. Once again, you’ll need to enter your library (that’s us), your library card number, and PIN to sign into the app. You’ll also need an email address to create a profile.
That’s all you need to start browsing periodicals from all over the globe! So start browsing!
By the way, the PIN you need is the same one you use to access your account on our website. If you don’t know your PIN, it’s probably the last four digits of the phone number that we have on record for you. If there’s no phone number on your account, the PIN will be a 4- digit code using your birth month and day. (For example, 0824 for a birthdate of August 24.) If your account has no phone number or birth date, your temporary password will be CHANGEME. Once a PIN is assigned, you can change yours to anything you wish once you sign into your account online.
