NEW WEBSITE — Jim Brockman, executive director of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Museum and Educational Center, and Merilee Madera, an independent computer consultant, view a new website Madera has developed for the museum. The museum and Brooke County Public Library have joined to secure funding for handicap accessible entrances, new lighting and other improvements to the building they share. -- Warren Scott

WELLSBURG — Visitors to the Brooke County Public Library have probably noticed the new handicap-friendly entrance and the brighter lights inside.

Those improvements and others are the result of a collaboration between the library and the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Museum and Educational Center, which is located inside the building.

Jim Brockman, the museum’s executive director, estimates that about $60,000 in improvements have been made using funds allocated by the boards of the entities.

He and Alex Eberle, the library’s director, said the money includes private donations as well as a $5,000 grant awarded to the museum by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.

Brockman noted handicapped patrons now are able to press a large button to open the front door and a side entrance, used by people attending meetings after the library’s regular hours.

He said the devices, found in most hospitals and many other businesses, operate on microwave technology with no wiring between the button and door.

Eberle said she’s received many positive comments about new lighting throughout the building, particularly from those using the library’s computers and periodical room.

Brockman said the new LED lights will be more cost-efficient, adding ceiling tiles in the building have been replaced.

The changes are part of an ongoing collaboration between the library and museum that has included a 4,500-square-foot addition that was completed earlier this year.

Funded with $100,000 donated by Jon and Jeannette Meriwether and Dave and Nancy Hubbard and a $50,000 grant from the Charles and Thelma Pugliese Foundation, the addition included updates to the building’s restrooms and heating system and a new meeting room while providing 3,000 square feet of additional display space for the museum.

Brockman said since the May 5 dedication for the addition, many individuals and groups have visited the museum, which began with a large display relating the experiences of thousands of American and Filipino troops captured by the Japanese while defending the Philippine Islands.

Created in 2002 by Ed and Henrietta Jackfert, a local former POW and his wife, the exhibit evolved into a museum with hundreds of artifacts, photos and writings donated by other POWs and their families throughout the U.S.

Many learned of the museum through the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor veterans group.

In an effort to further spread word of it, Brockman has worked with Merilee Madera, an independent computer consultant, to create a new website for it.

Madera said the website won’t replace the web page accessible through the library’s website.

Found at philippinedefenders.pastperfectonline.com, the site includes many articles and photos related to various aspects of the POWs’ experience.

But the new site has a more direct web address, adbcmuseum.com, with photos of the museum’s events and displays, a calendar of upcoming events, many links to related websites and a means for people to make monetary donations.

The museum has a Facebook page at American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor — ADBC Museum WWII.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)