Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Library almost ready for patrons
FAYETTEVILLE — The opening of the expanded library could be about a month away.
Board members met Monday at the expansion’s 700-seat event center, sitting spaced apart in front of the 24-by-60-foot stage. Construction crews have been putting on the finishing touches with the building closed to the public for the past three months. Employees have moved shelves and collections in anticipation of the 170,500-squarefoot library’s opening.
Executive Director David Johnson said the target date is Jan. 19, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The plan is to allow a maximum of 200 patrons inside at one time with 100 employees, he said.
The city’s Board of Health toured the building in October and determined about 1,800 people could safely fit inside the existing library and its expansion. Johnson said the plan is to start off slow and add capacity and open sections of the consolidated building over time as staff can manage.
“I’m pushing hard,” he said. “I really want people in the building at whatever capacity we can.”
Hershey Garner, library board member who also chairs the city’s Board of Health, said it may be possible to increase capacity in early February if the number of covid-19 cases in the region peaks by then.
“But I want us driven by data and not some arbitrary, pulled-out-of-the-air number,” he said.
Employees will use surveillance software to keep track of how many people walk in and out the doors and also will be able to know if clusters of people congregate inside, Johnson said. It’s difficult to know how people will feel regarding the pandemic and whether lines will form to see the new space, he said.
“You’re going to need a bouncer,” Board member Janine Parry said.
A class from Fayetteville High School will be ready to use the expansion’s teaching kitchen by Jan. 6, Johnson said. Students will be able to walk in and out from the door facing School Avenue without walking through the rest of the building, he said.
The building is almost ready for occupants, Facilities Director Sam Palmer said. There are still a few areas with light construction happening that wouldn’t be suitable for patrons, and some furniture is waiting for placement, he said.
“We are going through the building as the owners, and we’re nitpicking everything,” Palmer said.
In other business, the board approved an $8 million budget for next year. Members were introduced to the budget last month.
Next year’s budget is about $1 million more than the budget for this year. The largest increases in spending will be in administration, Information Technology and adult and reference services. The largest cuts were made to the budgets for accounting, materials and facilities.
Most of the library’s money comes from property taxes and the city. The money the city transfers to the library primarily comes from salestax revenue.
Voters approved a 2.7-mill increase in property taxes in 2016, bringing the library’s total property tax levy to 3.7 mills. About $26.9 million of the nearly $50 million cost of construction is coming from 1.2 mills of the 2.7-mill increase.
The tax rate will be lowered to 2.5 mills once the construction bonds are paid off within 30 years.
The remaining 1.5 mills of the increase will continue and cover the cost of operating the expanded building.
The library’s foundation is about halfway through its $23 million fundraising goal to cover the rest of the construction cost, said Christina Karnatz, the foundation’s development director.
The expansion will nearly double the library’s size. Youth services will have dedicated sections for preschool, grade school and teenagers. Patrons will have more room to collaborate, work, study and learn. A 700-seat event center will serve as a midsized venue for a variety of functions. Genealogy research will get a dedicated section. A teaching kitchen and deli will face School Avenue. An innovation center will allow residents to create their own music, videos and podcasts. Simulators will provide workforce training in aviation, trucking, construction and other fields.