Dedham Library, Schools Ink Book Deal

Dedham schoolchildren received the bulk of the benefit from a deal reached Monday between the Dedham Library Board of Trustees and Dedham school officials.

Trustees officially voted a plan to purchase more than 800 books that will be kept at and .

School and library officials touted deal as a win-win.

"This is a perfect opportunity to be able to show that everybody is willing to operate under one common denominator, which is the education of the children of Dedham," said Patricia Lambert, the director of the library.

The schools receive much-needed help to plenish their supply and move closer toward meeting state-mandated standards.

"This isn’t going to be the only source of funding," said Don Langenhorst, the Dedham schools technology director. "We need to look at all sources of funding."

The library can include the purchases into their numbers, and count the sign-outs toward their circulation count.

Trustees approved roughly $13,000 toward the collaboration as a trial run. The proposal is for the library to buy about $28,000 worth of books.

Langenhorst said he hopes to have the books on the shelves by the start of the school year in September. 

Trustee Brad Bauer reiterated that the library isn't funding the school's book budget, but lending a number of books.

"We are talking in terms of books that are loaned to the schools," Bauer said.

Library officials said a regular commitment would serve the schools best, as they have to rotate out a number of book older than 10 years.

The library would retain ownership of the books, and the schools would return the books to the library if they no longer satisfy a need, trustee Rachel Forsyth-Tuerck said.

Under the plan, if a book is requested by a library patron to be picked up at either branch library, a school-operated van would deliver the books on a regular basis, although trustees said they probably won't happen very often.

"We are really focusing on the young adult books and the books that fit their research and curriculum needs," Forsyth-Tuerck said. "We think we are serving that same population whether they are here or there." 

By the Numbers (statistics provided by Rachel Forsyth-Tuerck)