Library

A long-stalled project to bring a library and community college to Owings Mills appears to be back on track. The Baltimore County Council is expected to review contracts for the facilities this month, Councilman Kevin Kamenetz said Wednesday . Developer David S. Brown Enterprises had agreed to build the $25 million facility that will house the library and branch of the Community College of Baltimore County as part of a larger project known...

Sitting is way overrated, according to Felicity Merriman. The 9-year-old would much rather run around her hometown of Williamsburg, getting dirty and saving animals, than practice the sitting-down things her mother wants her to learn - like needlework. The Westminster Branch Library honors the spunky, fictional mischief-maker with a party Wednesday. Featured will be crafts, music, snacks and even a dance lesson based on the experiences of Felicity and her family, who live during the pre-Revolutionary time of 1774 and are the stars of six novels in the American Girls collection.

The Baltimore County Council is considering a measure that would allow the county to borrow $19 million for projects associated with the Owings Mills Town Center project, which will house a branch of the Community College of Baltimore County and a public library location, two projects that had long been stalled. The measure was introduced Monday, and the council also expects this month to review contracts submitted by developer David S. Brown Enterprises for both buildings. The 40,000-square-foot library would be the county's largest branch, with a café and wireless hot spots.

All branches of the Howard County Library will be closed May 31 in observance of Memorial Day. Regular service will resume June 1.The central library and the East Columbia and Miller branches will be closed on Sundays beginning May 30. Sunday hours will resume on Sept. 12.

The Randallstown library will be closed indefinitely because of damage from an early morning fire yesterday, Baltimore County fire and library officials said. The library, at 8604 Liberty Road, sustained about $250,000 in damage, said Capt. Glenn Blackwell of the Baltimore County Fire Department. The cause of the one-alarm fire, which started about 6 a.m. in what Blackwell described as a back workroom, spread to the roof. It was brought under control at 10:59 a.m., then briefly flared up again around 3 p.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Glenwood library, 2350 Route 97, Cooksville, invites young people ages 11 to 17 to join its Young Adult Advisory Board meeting from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday. The board advises the library on books, music, programs, computer games and other activities that are interesting to young people. Next week's meeting will include a discussion of the library's movie collection, a movie trivia quiz and refreshments. The board meets once a month. The Western Howard County Seniors Book Club will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the library.

Harford County's library board voted Thursday to accept the proposed expansion of the Bel Air library at its existing site, a move that essentially eliminates any chance of a new library in the Route 24 corridor during the next decade.The 4-2 vote came on a motion by Trustee Virginia O'Rourke to accept a feasibility study that concluded in May that the library could be expanded on its current site for about $7.5 million. Trustees also voted to ask County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann to put architectural fees and construction money in the fiscal 1996 budget.

Elliott E. Kanner, a retired library administrator and volunteer coordinator, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure and chronic lymphocytic leukemia at Johns Hopkins Hospital. A former Columbia resident, he had been living at Sunrise Assisted Living of Towson since December. He was 73. His wide-ranging career with libraries included developing libraries for Native Americans and overseeing services for a large library consortium north of Chicago. In his active retirement he enjoyed volunteer service that brought him commendations from two Maryland governors.

The gold is leaving the Linthicum library branch -- the gold carpeting, that is, with a recarpeting project planned this month.. The 11,000-square-foot building will be closed from Feb. 21 through Feb. 26 for replacement of the carpeting, which library manager Adam Mazurek says is about 14 years old. Mazurek said none of the materials checked out of the Linthicum branch is due during that week, although the after-hours book drop will remain open....

The Perry Hall branch library will remain closed until Monday after a destructive visit late Wednesday or early yesterday by vandals who damaged computers, sprayed the contents of fire extinguishers throughout the building and threw racks of books to the floor."