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Library investigates space, maintenance issues
GALENA–The Galena Public Library District is facing space and maintenance issues and the Library Board of Trustees is looking into solutions.
The library board has been aware of certain building needs for a while, but certain factors have prevented them from meeting those needs.
All of this began in March 2018 when the board hired Galena architect Jim Baranski to make a master planning report.
“This work included studying the existing library building, developing design options, creation of a master plan, floor plan drawings and 3D renderings,” Library Director Jenna Diedrich said in an email. “Baranski and his team conducted multiple interviews with staff, community stakeholders, and the board in order to gather data on the wants and needs of the library building. . .The board’s goal with Baranski’s plan, at the time, was to move forward with internal building renovations that would allow for optimal use of the library.”
The library was facing a lot of turn over at that time, so the project was pushed back. In 2019, Diedrich became interim library director and needed time to adjust to her new position and then COVID hit in 2020. In 2021, the board decided to do a new strategic plan first to help acquire more recent data.
“So we did a huge strategic plan over the course of nine months,” she said. “We did, again, more community surveys, we did focus groups, we did a Community Environmental Scan, we did a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. So we did lots of different pieces–and the strategic plan is available on our website for perusing–and identified a lot of wants and needs from our community. And then we identified how much of that is not able to be accomplished in this building.”
The board is now looking at three options moving forward: Renovating the library, purchasing a new facility or building a new facility.
The library board met with Galena School Superintendent Tim Vincent and a couple school board members to talk about possibly using part of the primary school. This space would give the library room for growth, which it doesn’t have now because the current building is almost at full capacity.
The primary school bus lot is a possible site to construct a new library building.
“And that’s as far as those discussions got,” Diedrich said. “So really, we’re just looking at three different options. We are researching meticulously every single one because it’s our job to make sure that we’re doing our due diligence and looking into all options to make this local library the best it can be for this community.”
Diedrich said that “no decisions have been made” and the board has not been saving money for a new library. The board does have some funds it has saved over time but state statutes prevent it from using the money for a new building.
Besides renovating the interior of the building, the library board also looked at the exterior as a separate project. On July 3, 2020, a building assessment of the library showed it needed several exterior repairs. The library board prepared a bid package for the repairs and the Gazette published the Request for Bids on Feb. 16, 2022. Only one company bid on the project.
“Now, the board at that time did not feel like it was responsible on their behalf to choose for that lengthy and for that expensive of a project the only bid,” Diedrich said. “They wanted to be able to see different companies and what those different prices would be, so they rejected that bid.”
Now, the library is working on that process again. The library’s Building & Grounds Committee met on Thursday, Jan. 26 and revised the bid request.
The board is also going to prepare a separate bid request for a safety egress window. Though there is an emergency exit outside of the children’s room, there isn’t a window egress, or emergency exit in that room. Baranski created a floor plan for that project a couple years ago, but it didn’t have to go out for bid because local contractors priced the project at less than $25,000.
“So then, we started talking to a couple different local contractors to see if they’d be able to do the job, and it’s really really difficult the last two years, three years to get on any contractor’s schedule to get that work done,” Diedrich said.
Other places are also having problems receiving bids or getting contractors these days.
The board is still working on getting this project completed.