New library vital to downtown development

While we admit it is a hard sell with today’s economy, we still think a new library building is needed.

There will be a referendum question on the ballot April 7 asking voters to approve $7 million in bonds to support the new library. That money will be paid by an increase in property taxes over 20 years. The increase equals about $3 a month on a $100,000 home, or $36 a year.

So, for under the price of a family dinner for one evening, the city could have a new library.
For those who do not already know, the current library building is out of date, out of space and just plain out of style.

It formerly was a bank building and was not even designed to be a library. The 12,500-square-foot structure serves 21,000 residents.

Comparing this to the Pekin Public Library, which serves 30 percent more residents in a 63 percent larger space, proves Fondulac District Library is too small.

Another problem is that book stacks can only be placed on one side of the room because support beams are only on one side.

Some staff members have their offices in actual closets and former storage rooms.
The former bank’s drive-up teller space, unheated and walled off by a sliding door, serves as the current library’s only private reading space used for tutoring. 

A meeting room in the basement has limited space (it only seats about 20), so certain events cannot take place there.

And there is only one toilet per gender.

Some may argue that they do not use the library, and, therefore, should not pay for it.
That is one way to look at it. But when people have this mind-set, it may be shortsighted.

The better facilities and amenities a community offers, such as schools, parks and a library, the more people want to locate there. That keeps property taxes down. It also helps generate sales tax, which lets our city leaders keep our roads, bridges and other infrastructure in good shape, as well as provide adequate police and fire service.

These are vital needs that affect everyone in the community.

Another reason to invest in a new library is because it is a place where children learn, and educating youth is priceless.

The library also affords opportunities to those who otherwise could not afford them. For example, people can check out books, movies or use the Internet for free. Surely there have been people who are low-income or out of work who search for jobs on the computers at the library, or children who need to use them for schoolwork, but cannot afford a computer at home.

And a library is simply part of the makeup of a good city. It belongs in the new downtown that is now being planned.

The new library would occupy 32,000 square feet as one wing of a civic complex adjacent to a public plaza. These two entities would share some common spaces, which cuts down costs.
The new library will be much better in many ways. It will include study rooms, a quiet reading area, a spacious meeting room (shared with the civic complex), a craft and story room, as well as an open area for children’s books, computers and reading tables.

Visits to the library increased by nearly 5,000, or 17 percent, from December through February compared to the same period a year ago.

Nearly 45 percent of the library district’s 21,000 residents have library cards.

Since its founding in 1935, the library has moved 10 times and never resided in a building designed for library use. It would be great to have an actual library in a building designed as one, so vote yes April 7, and utilize it. Checking out two or three books rather than buying them, you would already have your money’s worth.