District Library: ‘It would be fun to have bees’ on library roof

“It would be fun to have bees” on the roof of the new library, said Belleville Area District Library Board member John Juriga at the March 12 board meeting.
He said he was at a recent meeting of the Music in the Park committee when he mentioned that and, he said, Therese Antoinelli of Moving the Mitten real estate agreed with the idea.
Juriga said she referred him to Bees in the D and a bee meeting at Wayne County Community College. He said Antoinelli offered to pay for the project.
“It’s a great place,” said board member Joy Cichewicz, who has kept bees at her rural home in Sumpter Township. “We can put them close to a window.”
She said the bees could be living in one box, making honey, and only needing maintenance once a week.
Library architect Dan Whisler said the Northville Township library had bees.
“You can put plexiglas on the side of the hive and can see in,” Cichewicz said.
Whisler said there is a place facing the teen area on the northeast side, but Cichewicz said the bees would need the south side.
Included in the board packet was a reprint of a feature story on bees, with pictures of colorfully wrapped beehives on the roof of the Redwood City Public Library in California. The story said each hive held from 40,000 to 60,000 bees.
The hives have been on the roof for about a year. One hive produced no honey, while the other produced 40 pounds of honey — about three gallons or 72 jars. Half of those were sold out of the library store and the beekeeper who manages the hives sold the rest.
The beekeeper typically visits elementary school classrooms and teachers adults about beekeeping. Early on, the beekeeper said she learned that it was easier to bring the hive to the students rather than have them visit her farm. “It’s so much easier to get 5,000 bees in a box than it is to get 24 kids on a bus,” she said.
Board chairwoman Sharon Peters said of the idea to put bees on the roof, “That is something to be explored.”
In other business at the May 12 meeting the board:
• Approved the recommendation to select Baker & Taylor as the company to provide an opening day collection for the new library at the $150,000 set aside for the new print materials, DVDs (emphasis on non-fiction), audiobooks and music CDs. This is to supplement the existing collection of 77,000 books and 9,900 audio-visual materials. The library committee also considered proposals from Bodart and Ingram and the committee said it was a difficult decision;
• Approved purchase of an Automatic Materials Handling System from TechLogic AMH at a cost not to exceed $143,000 plus five years of maintenance agreement, putting the total at not to exceed $173,600. Four companies were considered. The system will include a five-bin sorter, an internal and external return drop off, ability to return multiple items at one time, a staff induction point, and sorting bins that minimize bending and stooping by the staff;
• Approved an update to the libray’s FOIA procedures and guidelines to comply with new state law;
• Learned a library fund development page is now available on the library website that contains basic contribution information. The staff is researching the possibility of having a Paypal button on this page;
• Noted a feature story reprint included in the board packet was “Libations in the Library: Alcohol-friendly events draw new, younger faces.” The story was about a Jefferson County (CO) Library Foundation after-hours fund raiser that was a great success. Other libraries have tried this, as well, and this was included in the packet to inform the board;
• Heard a report from Cichewicz on progress of construction of the new library with inspections by the city being done, exterior studs being installed, the roof scheduled for the second week of April and the concrete floor set to be poured. Outside bricks are due the end of April;
• Heard architect Whisler report they have completed erection of the south stairway and are working on the north stairway. They have started the plumbing work and are trying to get the roof on, their highest priority. They are pretty complete with the studs and are starting some exterior sealing, which will offer a visual change, he said. The work now is pretty independent of the weather; and
• Heard the Independent report that after the Sumpter Township meeting she had just attended a resident there asked her to relay the suggestion that the library have a used-book sale at the Sumpter library facility. The woman said the only reason she drives to the library in Belleville is for the book sales and she would like to have a sale closer. Board members said they would look into that.