When Merrily Pierce attended the Jan. 11 presentation of the proposed design plans for the renovation of Dolley Madison Library, she was disappointed to discover that one room had been overlooked.
"The McLean Citizens Association and the McLean Citizens Foundation have fought forever to get some sort of special space in the library to occupy for archive materials and records, and I don't see anything like that here," said Pierce. "Are we going to be able to get such a room?"
Roger Sudduth, Fairfax County Library Board Trustee member for the Dranesville District, said he was unaware of the desire for such a space, but would be happy to assist with the project.
McLean's Dolley Madison Library is slated for a $10.8 million renovation and expansion that is scheduled to begin this summer, and be completed in the spring of 2009. Once finished, the library will have an additional 14,100 square feet of space. On Jan. 11, Bowie Gridley Architects presented residents with its proposed design for the project, but an historical "McLean Room" was nowhere to be found.
According to members of the McLean Citizens Association (MCA) Education and Youth committee, the MCA and the McLean Citizens Foundation (MCF) have long sought space at either Dolley Madison Library or the McLean Community Center for the archiving and safekeeping of local historical documents. In addition, it was the hope of both organizations that the establishment of the so-called "McLean Room" would provide residents with a local historical reference tool. To date the association and foundation have only been able to acquire closet space in the McLean Community Center.
LOCAL CIVIC organizations are not the only entities with historical items in need of a permanent home. Former Dranesville District Supervisor Lilla Richards has boxes of local documents and photos stored in her McLean home, and would like to have them moved to a safe storage space accessible to the public.
Library officials have already indicated there is still hope for the establishment of a "McLean Room," but the current task at hand is for interested citizens to establish their exact needs.
"It's just now working out the details like how much space, and what kind of space," said Jan Auerbach, a member of the McLean Community Center Governing Board. "We're asking for a fairly large size room, and we're not sure yet if they're willing to give up that much space."
Rosemary Ryan, a legislative aide for Dranesville District Supervisor Joan DuBois, said that there are more factors to be taken into consideration than people realize.
"There really is an awful lot to be looked at," said Ryan. "Are we going to be storing documents that need to be preserved in an air-tight environment? Is the library staff going to be required to service the room? It's an operating issue, not just a storage space."
Ryan noted that the task of choosing, organizing and managing the materials also needed to be taken into account.
"There are a lot of really technical issues to work with, and we also need to have someone to decide what's worthy of archival material," said Ryan.
Auerbach said that it is still to early in the process to have a solid assessment of the exact specifications desired for the room.
"So far, we've only had two people come forward and say they want to donate stuff to this room — but who knows what will happen once we get the word out," said Auerbach.