NORWICH – Thanks to a grant recently awarded to the Guernsey Memorial Library, the Otis A. Thompson Local History Room has received a much-needed makeover and equipment upgrade.

According to Guernsey Memorial’s senior library clerk, Kathryn Barton, the library was awarded approximately $13,000 through a Greater Norwich Foundation grant it applied for in late 2010. With those funds – received in January – Barton was able to procure a second microfilm reader, a new computer and printer and a custom-built, solid oak table and workstation.

The grant will also cover supplies for the new equipment, as well as maintenance contracts, for the next two years, she added.

Since February, Barton reported that library patrons have looked at nearly 200 reels of microfilm. Prior to the addition of the second microfilm reader, she said it was difficult for people to access the equipment, as they were limited to 30-minute time slots. Now, with two machines, patrons have up to an hour for their research and studies.

“We really needed that second reader and the numbers show just how necessary it was to have it,” she added.

The new computer allows researchers the ability to scan information directly from the reader, which can then be burned to a disc or edited and printed, said Barton. A simple set of instructions make the process much easier than before, she added, and library staff are always on hand to show them how the new set-up operates.