Pell Harbor library board debates shelf height for relocated history section
PELL HARBOR — The Pell Harbor Public Library board met for two hours Tuesday evening to discuss the proposed relocation of the Michigan history section, with most of the meeting devoted to measuring shelf heights and reviewing patron sight lines.
Library Director Bonnie Ekstrom presented three options for moving the twelve-shelf history section from its current location near the periodicals to the northwest corner of the main reading room. The move would make space for an expanded large-print fiction collection, which has grown by forty-seven volumes since October.
"We measured from the floor to the top shelf three separate times," Ekstrom told the board. "Once with the metal tape, once with the wooden ruler, and once with Mrs. Vanderheim's cloth tape to confirm."
The measurements ranged from seventy-four inches to seventy-four and one-quarter inches, depending on the instrument used.
Board member Karl Dykstra raised concerns about whether patrons in wheelchairs could reach volumes on the fourth shelf and above. He noted that the current history section places the most frequently borrowed books—including the three-volume History of Wexagaw County and Great Lake Shipping Routes, 1880-1920—on the second and third shelves.
Public comment period
Four residents attended the meeting. Vernon Lattimore, 67, said he has been consulting the history section weekly since 1989 and objected to any change that would require him to walk an additional thirty feet from his usual reading chair.
"I've been sitting in that chair for thirty-four years," Lattimore said. "It's broken in just right."
Patricia Havens suggested the board consider the afternoon sunlight, which strikes the northwest corner between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. from March through October. She said direct sunlight could fade the spines of older volumes, particularly the 1954 edition of Tamarack Township: A Centennial History.
Ekstrom acknowledged the sunlight concern and said the library owns one window shade, currently in storage, that could be installed if the board approves the move.
Vote postponed
Board chairman Eugene Pell Jr. postponed the vote until the April 18 meeting to allow additional public comment. He encouraged residents to visit the library and examine both the current history section and the proposed new location.
"We want to get this right," Pell said. "These books have been in the same spot since 1991, and we're not going to rush into anything."
The library will accept written comments through April 15. Residents may also measure the shelves themselves during regular library hours, Ekstrom said, though they must provide their own measuring tools.
The board next meets at 7 p.m. April 18 at the library. The meeting is open to the public.
The history section relocation was first proposed at the February board meeting, when Ekstrom noted that large-print fiction now accounts for eighteen percent of monthly circulation, up from eleven percent in 2022.