The Tufts Archives will eventually be moved out of the Given Memorial Library and relocated to a site within the village of Pinehurst.

That announcement was made at last Tuesday’s Pinehurst Village Council work session by representatives of the library’s Board of Directors, who met with the council to outline a five-year plan for the library.

The eventual move of the archives is necessary to help preserve the fragile historical documents and thousands of negatives stored at the present location, as well as providing much-needed expansion room for the library, said board member Bill Wendt.

“We’ve purchased three freezers to help preserve the negatives but we really need an environment in which the climate can be better controlled,” Wendt said. “And we would like to make improvements to the library such as restoring the reading room, which was extremely popular.”

No prospective site has been selected for the relocation of archives, though Wendt did say that the board would prefer to build a new facility. Such a facility would make fund-raising on a national scale more effective, as well as ensuring proper climatic control, he said.

The Board of Directors is hiring an outside firm to help raise funds for the archives as well as the library, with hopes of gaining national support for the archives in conjunction with the return of the U.S. Open Golf Championship to the village in 2005.

“The archives could have a national support group because of the great interest in golf,” Wendt said.

Pinehurst Mayor Steve Smith said that he would be open to the possibility of the village’s ceding to the library a piece of land on which to locate the future archives.

One possible location to be considered is the vacant land adjacent to the Village Hall, Smith said.

“I’m speaking for me personally and no one else,” he said. “But I have no problem with seeing the archives located on this very property.”

No estimates were given on the cost of constructing a new building for the archives. Wendt said it would cost about $135,000 to restore the library itself. Wendt got this figure from an architect who examined the present facility.

Also, according to the presentation made to the council, the library plans to be more aggressive in its fund-raising, to improve relations with the community, and to increase the library’s profile through a more intense public relations plan.

“The board has not done the PR job it should have,” Wendt said. “For some reason, there has been an ‘only we know’ attitude at the library. We realize we have to change that.”

The library has an endowment of $2.1 million and hopes to raise another $750,000 to help fund the restoration. Even with the endowment, the library has an annual operating deficit of $50,000 aftering all of its operating costs, Wendt said.

Typically, the library’s annual fund drive raises about $40,000 to $50,000. This year, the library hopes to raise more than $150,000.

In addition to restoring the reading room, there are also plans to expand the books on tape section, add and update computers for better Internet access, and explore the possibility of improving the library’s music selection.

Even though the library is private and will remain so, according to Wendt, there are 200 to 300 visitors a day, equal to a public library

Of the library’s 4,700 members, 3,365 live in the village. A total of 327 children hold library cards.

The board discussed charging an annual fee to the members to help offset the costs but eventually scrapped that idea, Wendt said.

With the village’s annual budget process looming on the horizon, Wendt added that he would like to come back to the council with a specific request for a monetary contribution from the village to the library.

Smith noted that in the past, the village has donated upwards of $25,000 to the library.

He added that the council has already begun tentative work on the 2001-2002 budget — and that, if the library board hopes to make a budget request, it needs to do so very soon.