A generous donation to the Friends of the Oxford Public Library resulted in a valuable piece of equipment that’s helping the library to preserve materials, save money and expand its collection.
The Friends received a contribution from Benson Ford, Jr. that, when combined with some of the group’s existing funds, allowed for the purchase of a $2,930 machine that not only polishes the library’s audio and video discs, but repairs them by removing scratches.
‘It has more than paid for itself,? said Library Director Bryan Cloutier. ‘It’s for (audio) books on CD. It’s for music CDs. It’s for DVDs. It’s for Blu-ray Discs. It does all of that.?
Repairing damaged discs and increasing their longevity is far more cost-effective than replacing them.
‘A book on CD might (consist of) six, seven, eight or 10 CDs and in some cases, you cannot replace just one CD, you have to replace the entire book,? Cloutier explained. ‘They vary in cost, but some of them can be, depending on what it is, close to $100.?
The resulting savings will enable the library to purchase ‘new and additional? materials ‘rather than continually replacing items that are damaged,? according to the director.
‘It’s extremely beneficial,? he said. ‘It allows us to invest in other areas of collection development (in spite of repeated budget cutbacks related to the purchase of new materials).?
Without Ford and the Friends, Cloutier said the library wouldn’t have been able to acquire this machine.
‘It’s been on our wish list for a long time, but obviously, it’s not an inexpensive item and we haven’t been able to successfully budget for the one that we wanted,? he noted. ‘We wanted something that is known in the industry and (has been) proven by our colleagues to be successful.?