©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| FIRST ON WGIL: Library Board President Confirms Officials Looking at Downtown Site, New Construction, for Library |
The Galesburg Public Library Board of Trustees has been busy trying to find a new location for the library, a process that's moved along well enough that it's time to bring in an architect.
The library board's building committee is meeting next Thursday at 4:30 pm at the library to discuss the Request for Qualifications for architects. Board president Martrin Reichel says the next step is to hire an architect to do a site survey to determine if an unidentified location in the city's downtown area that officials like is suitable for library uses. Reichel tells WGIL construction of a new building is very much a possibility.
"That's actually what we're considering now. We haven't found a suitable building that could be rehabilitated that's in the downtown region."
Reichel says price tag of between $10-million and $15-million for a newly constructed library isn't out of the question. He says keeping the library near the center of town is preferred.
The library on East Simmons Street opened in 1962. Reichel tells WGIL the number of patrons there has gone up significantly over the past seven years, its meeting room is almost always booked and the lack of space is a major burden.
"Our current library is very unflexible. It started out as inadequate to begin with and was added on to several times. We have, for example, a second floor was added at one point it's supported by book cases underneath on the first floor. So you can't move those bookcases around because they're part of the structure of the library and those are the things you run into."
Reichel says a building plan has been developed, and for a town the size of Galesburg, the board is looking at an approximately 70,000 sqare foot facility on two floors with room outside for 120 to 150 parking spaces.
A timetable for picking a site for the library has not yet been formalized.
(The Galesburg Public Library building on East Simmons Street opened in 1962, and the library board's president says a new building is needed. WGIL News Photo by Will Stevenson. Story by Mike Perry.) |
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| 03 18 09 by Newsroom |
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