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Last Updated: Jun 20, 2008 - 8:43 AM |
The Joint Library Committee, made up of members from the Shelby School Board, the Shelby Public Library and the Village Board of Shelby held an open forum meeting at the high school library on Monday evening, June 16.
Shelby Superintendent, Larry Stick opened the forum by first explaining how the idea of joining the public library and the school library together came about. The number of Shelby elementary students rose in the last school year to the point where throughout the school year three classes were split into two groups. It is anticipated that these classes will need to be split again this year, creating the burden of finding classrooms to accommodate the added classes. The School Board approached the Library Board about joining together to solve both of their problems, replacing the current library with a larger facility and adding classrooms to the school.
Representatives of the school, library and village board researched the option by visiting two other communities that already have joint libraries, St. Paul and Loup City. The group liked what they saw and concluded that the same type of joint arrangement could work in Shelby. After presenting the idea to the various boards involved they agreed to pursue the idea as a solution and have been working on an interlocal agreement.
Whenever two or more governmental entities join together an interlocal agreement is needed to spell out the details of the agreement. The three organizations have been working on this agreement and some of the details include. (1) The library will be built on the school property. (2) The library will have a public entrance that is joined with a hallway to the school with one main entrance into the library. (3) It will have paved public access which will be handicapped accessible with library patron parking. (4) The library will be staffed by the school media specialist, who will be paid by the school and a library director and assistant, who will be paid by the Village. Expenses such as utilities, repair and maintenance and cleaning will be paid jointly, prorated by hours of usage by the Village and the School. (5) Other areas of concern such as censorship, safety and library policies have also been worked out.
It is planned to build a structure that will be 4000 square feet. The current library uses 1632 square feet and the school library is 2100 square feet.
Jeff Willis of the Village Board explained how the project will be funded. They are in the process of creating a separate Library Foundation which will own the library, but be run by the School and the Village. If the library is its own entity, it will be eligible to apply for grants.
The total cost of the project is planned for $500,000. Both the current library foundation and the school will each put in $100,000 with the remaining $300,000 balance being borrowed from Pinnacle Bank. The new foundation will be applying for grants to help pay for the project but if no grants are received they feel sure that they can make the bank payments on the current budgets of the school and public library without increasing taxes.
The joint committee this week met to look at possible designs for the building. Having this library be community friendly is very important. If you have any concerns or questions with this project please contact someone on the village board, library committee or the school board. They will be happy to answer any of your questions.
© Copyright 2008 by polkcountynewspaper.com
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