What does social distancing mean to you?
COPAKE—With its new Community Art Project, the Roeliff Jansen Community Library wants to know what social distancing looks or feels like to you.
Send images of photos, paintings or other artwork, along with a title of your choosing, to director@roejanlibrary.org. The library will share the images on its website and social media pages, and looks to hold an exhibition when the building re-opens.
Roe Jan looking at curbside service on new driveway
COPAKE—The Roeliff Jansen Community Library looks to begin curbside service in June.
In the meantime, now that construction can resume in the region, the library is completing a project that began last fall: repaving the driveway and parking lot. This project is funded with a State Aid for Library Construction Grant, awarded in 2018, and with matching funds from the Friends of Roeliff Jansen Community Library and a generous donor.
The project has three components: first, the construction of a set of exterior stairs from the upper parking lot to the lower parking lot and Friends Bookstore. This phase was completed last fall.
The second component, repaving the parking lot and driveway, was scheduled for this spring and then put on hold due to the stay-at-home order. The current porous concrete driveway is now 10 years old, at the end of its projected life. This experimental surface has not held up well through Copake’s winters. Fortunately, the library’s landscape design, which includes a centrally located bioswale and catch basins, is environmentally sound even without a porous driveway and parking lot.
The third component is installation of an electric vehicle charging station. Prep work for this is happening now, before repaving, so that the library is ready to install a station once state grant funds for such stations become available again.
The library, which is chartered to serve Ancram, Copake and Hillsdale, is at 9091 Route 22, south of the intersection with Route 23. 518 325-4101. roejanlibrary.org. Social media: Facebook and Instagram.