Staples Breaks Ground On New Library
A crowd of city representatives and library staff, architects, builders and schoolchildren gathered to celebrate as the City of Staples broke ground on a new Staples Public Library/City Office complex on Thursday, May 28.
The new library will be a terrific improvement over the existing library according to Great River Regional Library's (GRRL) Regional Supervisor Janie LaBree. The library will vacate its current overcrowded basement location and move into a bright new space in February 2010. The new library will be 4,000 sq. ft., providing an additional 1,200 sq. ft. that can be used for expanding the collection, as well as providing comfortable reading space and a dedicated children's area.
Grant Funding Helps Keep Budget Manageable
The city obtained $420,000 matching grant funds from the Minnesota Department of Education State Library Services to aid in library construction. The total building cost is $2,499,693, just under the city's $2.5 million cap. Without the library grant funding, City Administrator Nate Mathews said, he didn't know if this project would be possible. Mathews has been a strong proponent of relocating the library into a new and better building.
Staples is the northernmost branch library in the GRRL system. Several of the other branches share facilities with city offices. It's a model that provides for efficiencies in operation and convenience for library customers. LaBree and library staff have been working closely with architects Widseth Smith Nolting to ensure the new building is planned to make best use of the space. The Staples Friends of the Library are purchasing children's furniture for the building.
