Booking Ahead
The Jewish Community Center library looks forward
to a stronger
presence in its
current home.
LONNY GOLDSMITH
StaffWriter
T
he Meyers Memorial
Library at the Kahn Jewish
Community Center- a
unique trove of Jewish cul-
ture, is getting a makeover — and it
won't just be cosmetic.
The library, now two rooms off the
main lobby, will get a new physical
home as part of a $25 million capital
and endowment campaign to reno-
vate the Center. But it will also get a
broader mission; after the move, it is
to become a multi-media Jewish
Exploration Area.
The coming changes mark a dis-
tinct reversal of fortune for the West
Bloomfield facility. In 1995, the
library ran out of money and had to
shut its doors for five months until
The volunteer tea was held in the JCC library.
Julie Solomon applauds the work of library volunteers at a recent tea.
volunteers raised enough to get it
going again.
"The library is such an integral part
of the Center," said. ulie Solomon,
Center librarian. "Because the Center
took such heat from the community
when it closed, I only see things .going
in a positive direction."
Library officials aren't sitting on
their hands waiting for the fund-raiser.
Recently, Solomon secured a $5,000
state grant for a computer and soft-
ware to give the library Internet
access. "Information-wise, we can now
get everything," she said. "This will
make us more active."
JCC Executive Director David
Sorkin envisions a "Library of the 21st
Century" at the newly renovated
Center.
"We will be developing it into a
combination library and multimedia
facility with less books and more com-
puters," he said. "It will be part of the
continuum in exploring Jewish educa-
tion."
Following the renovation, which
will move the 14,000-volume library
to space now used for executive
offices, the Center will have dedicated
more space and programming to
Jewish education than any other JCC
in North America, Sorkin said.
In July, the library will unveil a
"Lounge and Learn" series of pro-
grams. Solomon will lead a book club,
6/12
1998
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