‘Kind of exciting’
Perryville library getting $1.27 million expansion
T he Max Milam Library in Perryville, which opened 22 years ago in July, is getting a long-awaited expansion and renovation.
The library, part of the Central Arkansas Library System, will almost double in size — expanding from 4,867 square feet to 9,334 square feet.
The construction will cost $1.27 million with a total project expense of $1.5 million, including furniture and “incidentals,” said Jennifer Chilcoat, head of branch administration for the Central Arkansas Library System.
“It’s going to be restructured,” Chilcoat said. “It’s going to be more than new carpet and paint, although it will get that, too.”
Chilcoat said the 4,467-squarefoot addition is “going on the back of the building; then the current part of the building that they have been in since 1993, that’s going to get a serious renovation.”
Jan Guffey, manager of the Perryville library, said she’s most looking forward to “having space after 21 years in the same building.”
“I came with the building,” she said, laughing.
The facility is heavily used, Guffey said, with 92,000 items checked out last year.
“Over 50 percent of Perry County residents have a library card,” Guffey said.
Construction started in August, and the entire project is scheduled to be completed in late July or August, Guffey said. The winter weather has delayed the work’s progress, the women said.
When the addition is finished, the library will be down to minimal services for a couple of weeks in April to empty the existing portion of the building for renovation of the old space.
“We will have to take everything out of the old building part and move it into the new part,” she said. The library will function in one room, the new meeting room, for that period of time, she said.
“The new part won’t be open to the public as of yet, but we will be doing some business,” Guffey said. “We’ll be getting holds in from other libraries. [Patrons] will be able to check them in and out. If they need something specific, we will get it.” If library patrons call ahead of time, employees will find specific books for them “if it’s within our reach,” she said. “They will not be able to browse the collection because it will be scattered from one end to the other, probably.”
“We’re trying to minimize how long [the library is] closed,” Chilcoat said, “because [the branch] is comparatively remote. In Little Rock, there are other libraries you can go visit. That’s not really a reality for the folks in Perry County.”
Chilcoat also said the plan is to have two or three wireless laptops for people to use during the time of limited library access.
The new entry into the library will have “a very different look,” she said, which will include a raised ceiling.
Guffey said that among all the amenities the expansion will bring, she’s especially excited about the teen center.
“They’re very excited about that — their own place,” she said. It will be private, but not too private. “It will be where you can view it from the circulation desk — there will be windows — kind of like in a little cove. We’ve been talking about having padded seating around the windows. That would be nice.”
An expansion of the children’s area is high on the list of improvements, too, she said.
The existing children’s area is a section of books, and there is no room for programming, Guffey and Chilcoat said.
“The children’s area is really what’s kind of exciting,” Chilcoat said.
She said decor for the children’s area will be primary colors of blue and green and “kind of a gold.” It will also have “really cool tile, … sort of an iridescent tile,” Chilcoat said. “We’re just going to make a nice, bright environment for the kids.”
Children usually have to check out books to take with them because it’s basically standing room only in the branch.
“There will be things like soft seating and places for the kids to chill out and read while they’re actually in the library,” she said.
“One thing I like about it — it’s going to have a lot of natural light. I think it’s going to be beautiful,” Guffey said.
In the addition, the children’s area will have its own meeting room, Guffey said. The existing meeting room will become a staff workroom, and a new meeting room will be included in the expansion.
Whereas the existing meeting room holds 35 people without being overcrowded, the new meeting room will seat 60 people comfortably, Guffey said. It also will have a projector and a screen for meetings and movies. A new restroom is part of the project, and the kitchen will be expanded.
One of the more popular services the library offers — and one of its best-kept secrets, Guffey said — is that it has DVDs for checkout, including recently released movies.
“We get new movies just as well as the bookstores and Walmart and places that carry DVDs,” she said. Most are available for seven-day checkout.
Movies are shown
year-round at the library, too, including blockbusters such as
Frozen.
“In the summertime, it’s usually every Saturday. We do things called Pages to Screen — they read the book and watch the movie,” Guffey said.
The library has a popcorn machine, too, so attendees can enjoy free popcorn during movies.
“It’s very expensive to take your family out to a movie theater,” Guffey said.
The most popular service, Guffey said, is use of the library’s computers to access the Internet. Chilcoat said “at least two more” computers will be purchased for the library.
Charles Thompson, 73, of Perry is a regular at the library and comes “nearly every day” to use a computer.
He considers himself a volunteer in the genealogy section.
“I work genealogy for people all over the United States,” he said. “When they come in over there and start talking, I try to help them. I’m just a volunteer, or whatever.”
Last week, he was learning how to navigate his new Facebook page. Sometimes the computers are taken, he said.
“If I’m in there on the computer and other people come in, I let them have the one I’m on because I can come back anytime,” Thompson said.
He said he is glad to see the library being expanded.
“It’s an asset to Perry County. In fact, it’s an asset to Arkansas, or the United States … so many people have ties to Perry County,” he said.
Guffey said she doesn’t mind most of the inconveniences from the construction going on because it will all be worth it.
“They’ve been spraying stuff, and we’re like, ‘ We don’t care,’” Guffey said, laughing.