A place to gather, a place to read, a piece of town history, the Konkle Library.
To continue to be all of these things, after 78 long years, the library is finally undergoing major renovations.
“The Konkle Library is a valuable piece of the community and we want it to continue to be a valuable piece of the community,” said Dennis Correll, volunteer Library Board President.
Correll elaborated on many of the different renovations, starting with their need in the first place. He stated that the need for renovations came from the lack of any updates to the building, or at least not any since the addition of the children’s wing, in 2005.
“Many of the bookshelves were well-worn, carpet needed to be replaced and the lighting fixtures needed to be installed that were energy efficient,” said Correll.
Correll also talked about how the board first determined the need for renovations around four years ago, when it was found that the roof and air-conditioning units, all of which were revealed to be out of date, needed replaced, as to prevent the possibility of having water damage.
The number of additions wanting to be made quickly began to rise soon after that.
Previously mentioned new carpet, new light fixtures that would allow for LED lighting, new free standing bookshelves that were described by Correll as being “no higher than five to six feet.”
There were also mentions of “Publicly Private areas” that will allow for “one-on-one tutoring,” that will be both private in terms of private tutoring, but public in the sense that one will still be visible to staff, hence the phrase “Public Private.”
When asked about the idea of changing any historic parts of the building, which was previously a bank, Correll said that nothing will change about the outside appearance of the building and no alteration will be made to the bank vault that it is stationed inside the library.
Correll also talked about his hopes to have these renovations last, at the very least, into 50 plus years into the future.
These renovations began on August 15, 2022 and according to Correll, will be completed sometime before November 30, the library’s current reopening date.
Soon after deciding on the many renovations that will come to the library, the board launched a “Capital Campaign,” in 2021, that would have a goal of $425,000+.
Mrs. Krista Wise, learning support teacher and volunteer library board member, spoke about donor recruiting and how the board would find said potential donors for the renovation project.
Wise said she had to learn how to approach possible donors in an ordinary setting, but the big donations would usually come from the donors who had previous experience in donating or helping the community.
She said that one time, they had scheduled a meeting with The American Legion, Post 104, which has previously donated to the community, to present to them the possibility of donating. Wise said the presentation for the Legion went well enough for them to donate 15 thousand dollars towards the renovations.
At this point in time the fund needs around 50 to 75 thousand dollars in campaign money before they reach their goal, Correll said.
Wise considers reaching that goal worthwhile.
“I believe our library is a gem for the community, it is a true representation of how important education is to our community”
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