Great Barrington Library Trustees Vote to Go Fine-Free Starting May 1

GREAT BARRINGTON — April 13, 2023 — Great Barrington Library Trustees voted unanimously Thursday to go fine-free May 1 and allocate $12,200 in state aid for summer programming. The six-member board, meeting via Zoom on April 13, approved a revised borrowing policy eliminating overdue fines at Mason and Ramsdell libraries, then allocated $5,200 to Mason's Children's Department, $2,000 to Ramsdell, $1,000 to Mason general programming, and $4,000 as a seed grant for a literature garden artist-in-residence project by Great Barrington nonprofit MAPS, founded by Rachel Shirk and Aaron Rourke, whose full project budget is estimated at $51,000. Trustees also reconfirmed a 2022 vote to donate the remainder of a Native American artifact collection to the Stockbridge-Munsee community's Arvid E. Miller Memorial Library Museum in Bowler, Wisconsin, following completion of a federal NAGPRA process for 16 funerary items expected within two months. During citizens comment, resident Michelle Lubert questioned why no trustees were included in the town administration's review that led Town Manager Mark Prochensky to decline pursuing a Massachusetts public library construction grant, citing five obstacles including a required $150,000 planning commitment and the town's $2 million cost-share responsibility.