LIBRARY CLOSING BITTERSWEET FOR PATRONS, EMPLOYEES
Modern library will be built as part of the city’s $250 million Town Square redevelopment project.
BOYNTON BEACH — In the days before the Boynton Beach City Library closed this past Thursday, children gathered there — before the building is razed — and wrote messages on its walls, making sure they left their mark on the library that clearly left its mark on them.
“I will continue to follow my dreams,” one child wrote. Another: “Don’t give up.” A third
one: “The library staff rules.” “It’s bittersweet,” said Craig Clark, the library’s director. “The new library is going to have a lot of updates, bells and whistles.
The technology will be improved. Our programming offerings will be more plentiful and varied. So there’s a lot of good that’s going to come for the community when
the permanent building is built. “But this has been our home.” Over the years, the library’s purpose in the community has evolved along with its residents. Yes, it’s a place to read, study or
check out a book to bring home. But it’s also where children gather
after school and tutors help them with homework. It’s where homeless take a break from the summer heat. It’s where those without electricity after Hurricane Irma charged their phones and used Wi-Fi. It’s where residents spotted the mayor in between
meetings.
It’s where a newspaper reporter typed up her stories and got to know Boynton’s average Joes and Janes.
“You have either work or school, and you have your home, and then you have the library,” Clark said.
The building at 208 S. Seacrest Blvd. will be torn down, likely in September, to make way for a new, modern library as part of the city’s massive $250 million Town Square redevelopment project, built through a private/ public partnership. The city will pay about $118 million for its share to redevelop about 16 acres off Boynton Beach Boulevard into a pedestrian-friendly town center to live, work and play.
Town Square calls for a new fire station, an amphitheater, the historic high school to become a cultural center with an auditorium, parking garages, apartments, retail space, a hotel and an off-site police headquarters. The library will be in a fourstory building with city hall, located just about where the library sits now.
For the project, Boynton will use money from a $76,117,844 tax-exempt bond and pay it back over about 25 years with money from the city and the Community Redevelopment Agency. The remaining $42,214,508 will come from sources including the CRA, city and utility budgets, federal tax credits and land value prices.
The new library/city hall building, which will be about 110,000 square feet, is expected to be completed within 18 to 24 months, Clark said. Until then, library services will be available in a temporary location starting Aug. 13 at 115 N. Federal Highway. About 7,000 to 10,000 items, mostly books, will be moved to the temporary site. Because of limited space, about 110,000 items will be stored in a location yet to be determined. Those items will be accessible, but with a 48-hour call ahead, Clark said.
Services and programs at the temporary site will be limited. Two trailers will be stationed outside: One for administration and tech services, and the other for 16 computers and IT staff to help patrons. The library will offer programs, including children’s storytimes, after-school programs, AmeriCorps and ESL.
Over the next couple weeks, about two dozen staff members will take on the task of moving the library. Staff members will be broken into teams, each with a leader. They’ll remove books from the shelves in order, put them in shrink-wrap and load them into 40 large, wooden carts. They’ll wheel the carts on and off the moving truck, into the temporary building, and then unload the books onto the shelves — still in proper order.
“It’s really a complicated process and it has to be done and planned fairly precisely to make everything go smoothly,” Clark said.
But the outcome is worth it, he said.
“We’re really excited about the future of the library,” Clark said.
The new library will have more classes, more opportunities for creative programs, sharing spaces — and new technology, such as virtual reality and 3D printing. The new space will be between 47,000 square feet and 50,000 square feet, which is roughly 10,000 square feet smaller than its current size.
Ellen Mancuso, who has worked at the library more than 40 years, has seen its purpose change over the years, but her love for it hasn’t.
Mancuso said a lot of what staff does now is help patrons with technology such as downloading books, using electronic resources and smart phones.
“I get to work at a library with lovely people and lovely materials,” she said.
The building opened at 12,000 square feet in 1974. It underwent expansions in 1987 and 2008 and a renovation in 2009, Mancuso said. Prior to that, the library was located at the Boynton Woman’s Club before it was moved to the William Rolff house, which was bought by the city, for about 13 years.
“A lot of people love this library so there is some bittersweet feeling there, too. But we assure them that the library services will improve,” Clark said. “I’m sure without a doubt they will be happy and excited.”