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Library Bus Service Unlikely

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: January 21, 2009

SEFFNER - As Seffner and Mango residents celebrate the opening of their new branch library at 410 N. Kingsway Road in Seffner, they got some bad news about getting there.

A Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority official said last week bus service to the facility isn't likely.

Ed Crawford, executive director of HART, which operates the county's bus system, said the authority has taken a look at extending a bus line to the library between U.S. 92 and Old Hillsborough Avenue and decided it wouldn't be economically feasible.

"Libraries traditionally are not good generators of ridership," he said. "We'd be taking a successful bus route and adding to the operational costs. We don't think it's a good decision."

Charmaine Andrews, president of the Friends of the Seffner-Mango Branch Library, said many of the patrons who regularly used the library when it was in the Wal-Mart shopping center on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard used the bus service. But Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is the end of the line for HART.

Suzy George, systems chief librarian for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Library System, hopes to persuade HART to extend its bus route. Such an extension also would pass by the county's Aging Service Program on Kingsway Road, about a half mile south of the new library.

"We were able to get a bus stop at the South Shore library, and we're in talks with HART about a bus stop for the Town 'N Country library," she said.

But bus stops and bus service are two different things, Crawford said.

"The problem is we made an agreement with the library board that they would make attempts to locate new libraries along existing bus routes and we'll provide bus stops," he said. "Because of price, accessibility, whatever the reason, the board chose to build this library off a bus route."

The Friends of the Seffner-Mango Branch Library and the Greater Seffner Area Chamber of Commerce aren't allowing the news to put a damper on plans to host Community Days on the grounds of the new library Saturday.

Andrews said the event is a chance for the community to tour the library, build community support and encourage volunteerism.

"The day is finally here, and we have a great big beautiful library in our neighborhood," Andrews said. "It feels so good to drive into that parking lot and walk through the shiny glass sliding doors."

The 15,000-square-foot library opened to patrons Dec. 29, and county commissioners, County Administrator Pat Bean and members of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Library System board of directors officially cut the ribbon Thursday.

The facility, which cost $6.4 million to build and stock and is twice the size of the old branch, has more than 75,000 books, audio books, DVDs, videotapes, CD ROMs, music CDs, cassettes and periodicals in its collection.

It features a separate children's library with five computers, a hands-on science center, self-checkout machines and a large community room.

Andrews said she is especially thrilled with the Friends' bookstore located just inside the lobby. The group sells used hardback and paperback books, as well as DVDs and music CDs, to raise funds for unbudgeted library needs. Proceeds from the bookstore have enabled the Friends to purchase a refrigerator for the community room.

Friends members Grace and Chuck McComas donated a microwave oven for public use, in addition to spending hours installing shelving, organizing and alphabetizing all the donated books in the bookstore, Andrews said.

The Friends of the Library will host a book sale all day Friday.

The Community Day activities will kick off at 10:30 a.m. Saturday with a flag-raising ceremony performed by the Armwood High School JROTC, accompanied by singer Jessica Jacobs.

The day will include a cake walk, a fish pond and other games and crafts for children, baked goods and other refreshments provided by Girl Scout Troop 95, the Friends of the Library, First United Methodist Church of Seffner, the Armwood High School PTSA and the Lopez Elementary School PTA.

Live music will be performed by the Don Hamby Group and the Moonlight Serenade Singers. Visitors also may enjoy demonstrations by the U.S. Taekwondo Do team, face painting, Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero contests for teens, truck displays by Stepp's Towing and the Seffner Volunteer Fire Department and educational displays by Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office crime scene investigators.

Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, Hillsborough County Mosquito Control, Hillsborough County Recycling and local businesses and nonprofit groups will have exhibits.

For information, contact Andrews at (813) 205-5133.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524.

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