Published: April 19, 2007 09:59 am      

TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Brighton Place celebrates first anniversary

It’s been a year since a fledgling group grew out of what the Erie County library system left behind in the Town of Tonawanda.

The Brighton Place community resource center is celebrating its one-year anniversary Friday with an evening of drinks, food, music and big-screen sports. The center was started after the county shut down several libraries throughout the area.

“The admission fee will include all the beer, wine or pop you can drink and gourmet hors d’oeuvres from Rizzo’s, so you can get your dinner here,” said Jeanne Phillips, secretary of the Brighton Place board. “We’ll be having music by Tom Stahl, and since people might not want to miss the Sabres game, we’re putting it on a big screen.”

Since the Brighton library was closed almost a year and a half ago, community volunteers have pulled together to keep the establishment afloat, Phillips said.

“The library was closed when several other county libraries were being closed,” she said. “A group of citizens got together to run it on our own because it’s an important asset to our community.”

The facility has lost some of the capabilities it once enjoyed as a county library, such as putting holds on books at other county libraries and access to certain databases. But a normal library couldn’t have a party like Book Blast, Phillips said.

The community feel of Brighton Place makes it a much more comfortable and social place than most libraries, said Librarian Manager Susan Kriegbaum-Hanks.

“This is a much more relaxed atmosphere with a social aspect,” she said. “Since most of our members are from the same community, so many people know each other.”

The facility always has a certified librarian behind the desk, which is impressive for a facility that has no government funding, Kriegbaum-Hanks said.

“They hire professional staff so that you get the same reference services you would at the public library,” Kriegbaum-Hanks said. “We also have a lot of great volunteers from the area. I’ve never seen so many volunteers and every single one comes with something specific to contribute.”

The center maintains its services with membership fees, grants and fundraisers like Book Blast, with 100 percent of the proceeds from events going back into the programs, Phillips said.

“We have to charge a membership fee to let people take books out and function as a library,” she said. “We try to provide the same services as a library and add lots of programs other libraries don’t have, like our senior program on Wednesdays, our children’s programs on Saturdays and our adult and student book clubs.

“Each month we try to add something new.”

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.