Posted March 10, 2006.

Residents Support Mayor in Keeping Hanover Public Library’s Name

Many Hanover, Pennsylvania, residents are agreeing with Mayor Maggie Hormel that their public library should not be renamed after a major donor. Hormel had written a letter to the editor of the Hanover Evening Sun February 27 to let readers know that the renovated building, scheduled to open June 3, “will no longer be known as the Hanover Public Library, but rather the Guthrie Memorial Library in honor of the family of Lou Guthrie,” who had made a substantial donation to the $3 million fundraising campaign in 2001.

According to the March 1 Evening Sun, Library Director Priscilla McFerren has said from the beginning of the campaign that the library planned to rename the facility after the largest contributor. Hormel expressed concern that the name change was a symptom of Hanover losing its identity and urged others to contact Guthrie, trustees, and town officials to retain the library’s name but display the Guthrie name prominently on a new wing of the building.

Feedback obtained by the Evening Sun in interviews and letters has largely favored keeping the Hanover Public Library name. A former resident who lives in Florida wrote in a March 10 letter that he and his wife planned to take the library out of his will if the name change went through.

The mayor has scheduled a public comment period at the March 22 meeting of Hanover Borough Council.

Posted March 10, 2006.