LIBRARY DISTRICT BOUNDARIES CAUSE CONFUSION

For some Cape Girardeau residents, the boundaries of the Cape Girardeau Public Library and the Riverside Regional Library districts are as tough to decipher as the worn pages of an old book.

The problem is particularly apparent in the Northfield area, where neighbors find themselves in different library districts.

Residents north of much of the old section of Lexington, between Yorktown and Cape Rock Drive are in the Jackson-based Riverside district while those on the newer, western sections of Lexington are in the Cape Girardeau district.

But the boundaries can get blurred.

Election judges in Tuesday's balloting said some Cape Girardeau voters clearly were confused about the library districts.

Elizabeth Ader, director of the Cape Girardeau Library, said Tuesday the library often checks with the Cape Girardeau County clerk's office to find out who is in the district and who isn't.

Cape Girardeau residents can find which district they are in -- and which one they're paying taxes to support -- by contacting the city library.

"It is not an easy call," Ader said, adding that the boundaries, particularly along Lexington, can be confusing.

"I would encourage them to call and we will look up the records," she said.

She said the library often checks with the Cape County clerk's office as to who is in the district and who isn't.

The Cape County clerk's office notified 978 Cape Girardeau city residents in 570 households that they were in the Riverside district and eligible to vote in Tuesday's election.

That included residents in the Twin Lakes area and those along Bloomfield Road west of Interstate 55.

Patty Schlosser of the county clerk's office said the library boundaries resulted from a state law enacted 30 years ago.

City libraries can't expand their districts beyond the city limits as they existed in 1965.