‘This is the public’s library’

By BILL MARDIS Editor Emeritus

August 03, 2007 09:34 am

— “This is the public’s library. This belongs to the people.”
Judy Burdine, director of the Pulaski County Public Library, made the observation as she took a reporter on a tour of the new library complex now under construction on South Main Street across from the Beecher House.
The $8.2 million, three-story library building has brick veneer in place and is ready for the roof. The imposing structure on a 3.2-acre site is scheduled to be completed in March. Construction is running about a month ahead of schedule, according to officials of D.W. Wilburn Inc., general contractor.
The new library is believed to be the largest project in Pulaski County to be built entirely with public funds. It is financed with a petition-approved real property tax of 5.9 cents on each $100 of assessed value.
The library district sold $10.7 million in revenue bonds to finance the project. It included buying the property and razing seven structures, among which was the historic First Christian Church building.
Burdine said it will take a month to move from the existing library on North Main Street to the new complex. The facility will the largest public library in South Central Kentucky.
“We hope to dedicate the new building in March,” said Burdine. Moving will require shutting down library services for four weeks prior to the dedication. If the complex is completed a month ahead of schedule, the period the library is closed could be February, Burdine noted.
The new complex has 45,000 square feet of usable space. It’s expansive, almost incomprehensible for a rural-area library. Burdine pointed out that the reading room in the library section is large enough to contain all three floors of the present library.
“All services are in one room ... grouped together for more public convenience,” said Burdine. A circulation desk, customer service and information area adjoin the reading room.
The new library complex, according to tradition, is actually two buildings in one, Burdine explained. “One of the buildings is for public use and the other for private use,” she noted. For security reasons, the structure is designed so public areas can be open during hours the library is closed.
On the first floor is a community room that can accommodate 200 people. The room has a retractable wall to divide the space into two meeting places.
Adjacent to the community room will be a full-size kitchen with two refrigerators and two stoves along with necessary catering equipment, Burdine said.
“The community room is already reserved in July next year for a 60th class reunion. Burdine said the new library was chosen for the reunion because the building is totally accessible to the physically challenged. Near the community room is a smaller conference room to accommodate 10-12 people for a meeting.
The new library will offer additional and expanded services. “We’ll have more books, more movies, more CDs ... more space,” said Burdine.
A drive-through window will allow patrons to pick up and drop off books without leaving their car. A computer center with 25 stations will be available to the community for training people to use computers and the Internet, Burdine said.
A fully supervised room for teen-agers will offer books, music and games, she noted. The bigger room will replace what Burdine described as a “closet-size room” for teen-agers in the current library.
“This is the very first room designed for teens,” said Burdine. “It’s dedicated solely to teens,” she added, noting that teen-agers’ suggestions were implemented into the design.
A special department is for children, probably up to age 11. After a child reaches 11, he or she likely will move to the teen room, Burdine suggested.
Space will be available for Friends of the Library and the Pulaski County Historical Society. A Kentucky History Room, funded by the Mohn Foundation, will be named in honor of Don and Eva Mae Orwin.
Among highlights in the Orwin room will be an historic gas lamp used in Somerset before the age of electric streetlights. The gas lamp, donated by the Al Threlkeld family, has been adapted for electricity so it can be lighted.
Five stained-glass windows in the boardroom facing South Main Street will depict the evolution of books -- from clay tables, to papyrus, to the Geutenberg press, Linotype machines, and the modern offset press.
The windows will be lighted at night so passersby can see the images, and the pictorial representations in stained glass will be easily discerned in daylight, Burdine noted.
The new library will have more than 100 parking places, a major upgrade from the 13 spaces squeezed around the existing library. An overlook into Rocky Hollow Park will be created at the end of Gilmore Street and Burdine said city officials have promised a path into the park from the area.
“We hope this will become the main entrance to Rocky Hollow Park,” Burdine commented.
Additional space in the new library and more parking should dramatically increase use of the facility. The existing library currently houses a total of 92,012 books, videos and check-out units. Total circulation, including the branches, as of last year was 239,163.
The existing library building formerly housed the Somerset Post Office. The federal government gave the building to the city in the early 1970s after a new post office was built on North Maple Street.
“We’re leaning heavily toward a community art center,” said Burdine, responding to a question about uses for the to-be-vacant library building. The property is owned by the Pulaski County Library Board.

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