Wednesday, February 5, 1997
Library review panel to tackle other issues
By ANTHONY WILSON / Staff Writer
While waiting for consultants to scrutinize two downtown buildings'
suitability for a new library, the Citizens Library Review Panel
will tackle other issues.
On Tuesday, the panel formally approved a $14,894 contract
with two consults to analyze the potentials of the NationsBank
Tower and of One City Center. The consultants' studies, expected
to take about six weeks, will consider the buildings' structural
integrity, operational costs for each site and library designs.
In the meantime, panel members will begin readying recommendations
for the City Council on other library issues, including branches,
expanded hours and accelerated weeding of outdated materials.
"These are things we can start to get closure on,"
chairman Ed Patton said.
Chief among the secondary recommendations consultants Dick
Waters and Lee Brawner made to the panel last week was keeping
the Abilene Public Library open on Sundays and building a branch
in the city's southwest.
Panel members unanimously seem to back the proposal to build
a 20,000-square-foot branch in southwest Abilene. The consultants
recommend construction start in 2001-02. They estimated the cost
at $4.6 million.
In the interim, they endorsed a small store-front branch, probably
in the Mall of Abilene. The move, estimated to cost about $300,000
in start-up costs, would boost usage and support for the library
system, supporters say.
"One's not exclusive of the other," Patton said.
"You kind of work your way into (the larger branch)."
The consultants also recommended opening the library from 1-5
p.m. on Sundays, citing citizen requests. That change would cost
an estimated $23,770 per year in staffing expenses.
Library staff should have a clearer idea of how much money
they'll have for more hours and a storefront branch next week
when the city receives its 1995-96 audit. Council members have
vowed the library will be the prime priority when last year's
unspent monies are earmarked for spending this year.
Among the other proposals the panel will debate in the coming
weeks are clearing more space with an aggressive weeding of underused
materials, framed art prints and vinyl records; and expanding
the library's promotional programs.
When the consultants offer their comparisons of the tower and
One City Center, Patton wants the group to focus on a central
library so it can issue a recommendation to the council as quickly
as possible.
"I know there's reluctance to spend money on consultants,"
the chairman said. "But when you're talking of millions of
dollars (for a library) and the public's trust, the money will
be well worth it."
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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