Guest passes to the DiMenna-Nyselius Library here at Fairfield will be available to all Fairfield Public Library cardholders after the Fairfield Public Library on the Post Road will be closing for renovation on Dec. 14 until spring of 2005.
For the next year and a half, local library patrons will be forced to travel to a number of other libraries in the area. During this renovation, Asked whether the public library closing would impact circulation at the DiMenna-Nyselius Library, Director of Library Services Joan Overfield said, “It is really difficult to say at this point. We won’t be able to tell until the [DiMenna-Nyselius] library reopens after the holidays in January.”
Overfield noted that “Fairfield residents have always been able to obtain guest cards,” which provide limited access to the university’s collection of more than 290,000 volumes. “Currently, there are more than 1,000 guest card holders who are able to borrow up to three books at once,” she said.
Statistics regarding the borrowing activity of guest card holders were unavailable at press time.
Whether the number of cardholders will increase is unclear at this time.
A brochure published by the Fairield Public Library recommends borrowing from nine area libraries including the DiMenna-Nyselius library, the Fairfield Woods branch of the Fairfield public library system, and a new, temporary library located on Sanford Street near the Fairfield train station. With such an abundance of alternatives, no clear conclusions can be drawn with regards to the impact on the university library.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” said Overfield.
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