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                                    LPage Two, PHOENIXTHE ESPOSITO TROCAR is not Meade Esposito%u2019s latest model, but a gynecological instrument used in electrocautery, a popular method of female sterilization, which has been named after Dr. John Esposito, a doctor at the Methodist Hospital. Dr. Esposito is credited with a design variati on which improves the safety of the instrument.%u2022 f tNEW OFFICERS: Jerry Liquori was recently elected president of the Fifth Ave. Merchants Association of Park Slope and South Brooklyn. Other officers elected include, Peter Morrise, vice president; Milton Forman, treasurer; and Lucy Liquori, Secretary.PRESIDENT ELECT: Prof. Konnetta E. Putman, a member of the dental hygiene faculty at New York CityCommunity College, was elected president of the American Dental Hygienists%u2019 Association at the group%u2019s annual convention in San Francisco. She will automatically become president at the next annual meeting, scheduled for Houston, Tex. Next July she and association president Jeanne Fox, of Eugene, Ore., will represent the organization at the 61st annual meeting of the Federation Dentiare Internationale, slated for Sydney, Australia.Konnetta Putman Norman P. AuburnACTING PRESIDENT: Norman P. Auburn,President Emeritus and Consultant of The University of Akron and Vice President of the Academy for Educational Development, Inc., was elected Acting President of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, last Thursday at the regular meeting of the Polytechnic Corporation.Auburn, who will also serve as a member of the Corporation and of its Executive Committee, will assume office March 12 in succession to Arthur Grad, who resigned as president earlier this month. Auburn will servtf until a permanent president is found.%u2022 %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 %u2022 f tYOUNG REPUBLICANS: Stewart Feigel andLawrence Penner, Long Island University student councilman and leaders in the Young Republicans there, praised a bill sponsored in the senate by Deputy Majority Leader William T. Conklin that would have a result of transferring City University Students to LIU. %u201cLIU enrollment has been dropping steadily as has been the case in all private colleges,%u201d said Mr. Feigel. %u201cThe Conklin bill would allow students to avail themselves of the facilities of a private college, with the city paying the bill. The features of this bill are being made available to City University students and would also have the effect of relieving an overcrowding situation there. Speaking for ourselves, the Young Republicans and the student body, we are pleased that Sen. Conklin has taken a deep interest in the plight of the private university.%u201dEFFECTS OF POLLUTION: Dr. Seymour Werthamer, director of Pathology and Laboratories at Methodist Hospital, recently presented a paper, in cooperation with Dr. P, Daniel Penha and Leonard Amaral, Ph.D., showingthe effects of pollution on all living organisms.SLIPPERY WHEN WET: The Highway Department is planning to resurface the Brooklyn Bridge next fall. In the meantime, Councilman Fred Richmond is urging the department to install signs warning motorists of the bridge%u2019s slippery condition.%u00bb wamat s inn - w anCuts ThreatenLibrary ProgramsBY CARROLL SUGGFederal funding for public library services recently cut in half, will be eliminated if President Nixon%u2019s proposed budget for the 1974 fiscal year is not rejected by Congress. In Brooklyn this will mean an end to a host of public library community outreach programs, and a discontinuation of the salary supporting the Brooklyn Librarian %u2014 chaperone of the Brooklyn Public Library%u2019s borough historical collection, which includes the invaluable Eagle Morgue.In November, H.E.W. cut in half their support of the Brooklyn Library%u2019s special programs, slicing library service and construction Act (L.S.C.A.) funds of $290,000 down to $144,000. The Brooklyn Library Board of Trustees quietly voted two months ago to temporarily make up for the large loss and allow the %u201chighly successful%u201d programs to proceed. Some, such as the Pre-School Aid Program, have had to be substantially trimmed in order for the larger programs to continue with their past effectiveness.President Nixon%u2019s proposal would eliminate all federal financial support of public libraries. Kenneth F. Duchac, director of the Brooklyn Public Library warned that, %u201c the elimination of library support from President Nixon%u2019s proposed budget for fiscal year %u201974 is a disaster for libraries and library users of the nation.%u201d He added, %u201cThe important role of libraries %u2014 public, school, college and university libraries %u2014 has been recognized until now in federal legislative policy and financial support. It is hoped that the value of these programs will be strong enough to restore them to priority ranking in the nation%u2019s spending plans.%u201dNew York State and City officials have continually refused to give the library programs financial backing. When the L.S.C.A. appropriations were cut in November, more pleas were made to the city, but again the library%u2019s propositions were rejected. Mr. Brandwine, deputy director of Brooklyn Library, suspects that state government officials do not see the need to step in financially while the programs are being taken care of federally. He hopeswith such community groups as The Red Hook Community Day Care Center, the Headstart Program, the Wycoff Day Care Center for Older People, the Brooklyn House of Detention. The list goes on. He and three others like him in Brownsville, East New York, Bushwick, and Bedford %u2014Pacific St. Library Vandalizedthe city will soon realize the importance and tfnefit that the library%u2019s programs are to the community, and will pick them up Locally, the effects of the funding problems have not been too harshly felt, mainly because of the immediate action on the part of the Brooklyn Public Library Board of rrustees to temporarily cover the federal funding loss. The Library%u2019s Community Coordinator Project, focusing primarily on disadvantaged communities, proceeds uninterrupted. In the Red Hook %u2014 Cobble Hill area, Community Coordinator Fritz John continues to hold classes and discussions, as he has done for the past four years,'Vandals HitPacific LibraryThough the doors of the library branch on Pacific St. and Fourth Ave. have been closed for a year, other ways have evidently been found to enter the 70-year-old building that stands unattended, awaiting its impending renovation.Members of the Boerum Hill committee who have been determined to include community input in the branch refurbishing, viewed the desolate interior with its broken plumbing, lead pieces strewn around the floor, at a gathering with library officials last Thursday night to discuss the project.The neighborhpod representatives of 50 community organizations were shocked at the vandalism and asked that strict security measures be employed immediately to assure the safety of the building. They demanded also, that funds allocated for rehabilitation of the structure, which was donated by Andrew Carnegie in 1904, be used as planned, and further monies be found for clearing up the unexpected mess.The community group came into the picture after the closing of the Pacific St library last February. Reacting to the threat of its per manent shutdown, they pressured for renovation of the landmark structure and for interim library quarters.The dual decision was made by officials to go ahead with renovation and to set up a temporary library, which is currently functioning at the YWCA at 30 Third Ave. $382,560 has been allocated for restoration, $340,000 of which was recently awarded to a contractor who is expected to begin work within a month.The community however, is anxious to include its ideas for refurnishing and for setting up room arrangements that would relate to the interests of people in the Boerum Hill neighborhood. %u201cWe don%u2019t want to stop work,%u201d Bob Snyder, a spokesman for the committee says, explaining that the interest is in breaking the institutional stranglehold by choosing attractive paints, unobtrusive ai%u201d conditioning setups, attractive lighting, and %u2014 beyond the decorative %u2014 a music listening room, a photo laboratory, and a bode collection responsive to community concerns. %u201cWe want to mciude our pians witmn me existing contract, within the city%u2019s plans,%u201d Snyder adds.The community group will be meeting with the library directors within the next few weeks to continue discussion. Meanwhile, the officials, straitened already by cuts in funding, advise that the security measures asked for cannot be readily implemented.Stuyvesant provide their communities with adult and children%u2019s books, pamphlets and films. From his station in the Carroll Gardens Library, Fritz John also goes out into the field encouraging ind i v i d u a 1 s , c o m m u n ity org- nizations, and institutions to make die library a part of their lives, urging them to make use of the library%u2019s vast stock of educational, historical, and entertaining materials. %u201cThere is a feeling,%u201d he said, %u201con the part of the disadvantaged to regard the library as the %u2018establishment%u2019 and not for them. As he sees it, his task is to overcome this attitude.Mr. John cannot begin to imagine what will become of his outreach efforts if the federal funds disappear altogether. Used by him in Red Hook-Cobble Hill and shared with the other community coordinators is the library%u2019s only sidewalk van, which carries books and supplies into the community. Called an essential extension of their services, the bookmobile will cease to operate if the program is cancelled for lack of funds.Of a different thrust than the community outreach programs, but also in jeopardy is the %u201cBrooklyn Librarian%u201d whose office is located in the Ingersoll building at Grand Army Plaza. Currently, Mrs. White is the Brooklyn Librarian, and she manages and maintains the mazes of almanacs, prints, periodicals, and logs contained in the Brooklyn Public Library%u2019s borough historical collection. There is much demand for information pertaining to Brooklyn%u2019s past. %u201cLocal Brooklyn history is an extremely important thing,%u201d she says. %u201cI get at least five or six requests for information a day. Most of the time they want to know about their families and ancestors, though today I got a call from London asking for certain historical events.%u201d At present, Mrs. White and her assistant areHi p only li h r a r i a n s u/hr%u00bb in tim a tp lvunderstand the collection and how to extract its valuable information quickly.Mrs. White%u2019s salary was not affected by the funding cut in 1972, but her salary will disappear if the L.S.C.A. grant is dropped. Presently she and her assistants are trying to restore the old EagleContinued on Page 9
                                
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