To steal a quote, the recent letter from Paul Charbonneau cannot go unanswered. 

Please refer to his letter posted July 17 for his side; I will simply make a few comments here and there. 

Contingent: According to Charbonneau, the word contingent, used in reference to 100 people who have signed a petition (not, as Mr. Charbonneau states “more than100 people”), is a derogatory, diminishing term. According to Mirriam-Webster,  contingent used as a noun simply means “a group of people who go to a place together, do something together, or share some quality, interest, etc.” It can also mean a representative group. Synonyms include ‘delegation’. Perhaps the reference section of the library is stuffed too tightly and Mr. Charbonneau could not manage to look the word up, but I can assume him it is not derogatory in anyone’s definition except his.

After accusing the chair of the Library Committee of insulting him, he goes on to say:

“...blatantly and once again refuses to recognize the large numbers of people who at organized and professionally guided focus groups and surveys opposed moving the library and the small amount of people who attended later attempts to organize a Listening Tour, a not-so-veiled attempt by the committee to gain support for their unwanted agenda. “

I’m sure Mr. Charbonneau attended one of these “professionally guided focus groups” but perhaps he didn’t understand that those were the listening tour, that there was no later attempt to gain support with some other event. That the survey he recalls happened more than a year ago, was not professionally designed, and basically asked if people wanted the library to stay where it was or not. Given no alternative, naturally people chose to keep the bird in the hand rather than choose the unknown. 

Sir, if you are meting twice a week with a eight to12 people at the library, you must be using the Marine room, leaving all those people who wish to read quietly to take their books and go home. Since you don’t actually need or use th services of the library when you are there, perhaps it would be more neighborly of you to take your group to the community center so people can use the library in peace and quiet. Oh, right, there isn’t one in the area. 

Since you are one of many folks who could walk in and make “good decisions that would get rid of the cramped, jammed look” perhaps we could meet there sometime and you could walk us through your decision making process? I’m curious how it can be “uncramped and unjammed” — shall we just toss a thousand books in the dumpster?

Your quote of the comprehensive plan at least is accurate. However, you seem to not have noticed that the Library Committee, a nine-member Select Committee, our library staff, and our public works department have spent a great deal of time coming to the sad conclusion that the present building simply can’t accommodate what you think it can. I’m sorry. I like the current building, too, but I like a library that works for everyone better.

Jan Rosenbaum lives in Rockport