August 07, 2008   6 Av 5768

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The Mel Harrison Memorial Library  

History
The library at Temple Judea was created by Zelda Harrison in 1970 in memory of her husband. She personally supervised its operation for many years until her retirement. In late 1997, Phyllis Robarts, a Reference Librarian at the University of Miami, took over the position of librarian. The library received national accreditation from the Association of Jewish Libraries in 2002.

Mission
The library’s mission is to provide quality, up-to-date, free access of material of Jewish content to satisfy the needs of people of all ages in the congregation and religious school, so as to promote a greater understanding of and appreciation for our Jewish heritage and a love of reading, learning and libraries. Most material may be borrowed for limited periods.

Holdings
The library currently consists of close to 5,000 books, with an emphasis on works with Jewish subject matter or written by Jewish authors. In addition to books, the library has magazines, cassettes, and videos. All of the books have been catalogued electronically, and a computer terminal is available to help patrons locate material from our online catalog. Collections include adult fiction and non-fiction, an extensive reference collection, and juvenile collections for easy readers, intermediate readers, and young adult. There is also a juvenile reference section and a small Hebrew language section for children. In addition to Judaica, the children’s collections include many secular books, which are shelved separately. New books are continually being added, and are featured in display cases. Our librarian always welcomes suggestions for new books.

Donations and Gifts
Donations of books to the library are gratefully accepted, with the understanding that the librarian will then select those materials most suitable and which do not duplicate our holdings. Gifts for the purchase of materials are most welcome, and encouraged. The library relies on monetary donations to sustain its book budget. For information on making a donation to the library, contact the Temple Office at 305-667-5657 or judeainfo@judeagables.org.
Mel Harrison Library Renovation Update  

It's hard to believe that a year has passed since I convened the first meeting of the reconstituted library committee.  Our mission was to dream. We started out with imagining what our library space could look like? What place does a Jewish library have in a synagogue? And what did we want to see happening in that space 18 months from our first meeting? We came up with the following vision. 

 

The library should be a place that is beautiful, comfortable, inviting, and clearly shares our communities value of Jewish learning and Jewish literature. Our committee meetings not only focused on the library renovation but also about ideas for programming and uses of this new space.  When you have a free moment, please go and visit the new library. You’ll see new armchairs for reading, a newly designed children’s area with a welcoming space for group reading, improved lighting, new doors leading to the two offices, and a beautiful new carpet fill the room. In addition, there is a new reception desk for Phyllis Robarts, our librarian, as well as the volunteers who will help coordinate activities and library usage. The most exciting new feature to me is that our library now has Wi-Fi access, plus a “guest” computer! 

 

While much has been accomplished, our committee’s work and our library wish list is still not complete. Some of the items we are continuing to work on are:

  • Up dates to our computerized catalog system (did you know, our books are all cataloged on the temple server and soon will be linked to the www.judeagables.org website)
  • On going funding to keep our book collection current and updated
  • Better signage
  • Subscribing to periodicals
  • Media center equipment (for example: DVD’s & a medium size flat screen television)

A highlight of our meetings was sharing our own personal reading lists with one another, which we will post in the library at all times. So please stop by, enjoy the space and get lost in a great Jewish book.

 

Suzin Rubin
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