Library board asks council: what now?
That was essentially the question needing answered when the library board and Creston City Council met in joint session earlier this week at Gibson Memorial Library.
Now that Lincoln School is off the agenda, we need some direction from city council, said Ann Coulter, library board president. We need to know what your goal is for this library and where do you see the future.
Coulter reiterated to the council Monday that space at Gibson Memorial remains inadequate for modern times, specifically citing lack of space for book storage and meeting areas. Coulter said of the 41 Iowa communities similar in population to Creston there are only four libraries smaller than ours.
Gibson Memorial currently has just less than 8,000 square feet.
Wintersets city library has 17,400 square feet of space while Red Oak has 11,525 square feet of space.
Dave Koets, ward 5 city councilman, said the council and library board need to come up with a plan that the community will get behind and can gather around 75 percent support.
Creston Mayor Warren Woods said his personal opinion is to keep the library in uptown Creston and possibly expand onto Gibson Memorial. Woods told the library board hed get a composite feel from the council and have a written recommendation to them by the end of the month.
The library board and council are discussing other possibilities to expand library services now because the Lincoln School property was sold to Seldin Company of Omaha, Neb., for $10,000 in August.
Prior to the sale, the library board and their marketing consultant Mandy Kolesik of Lamoni were raising funds to transform the 17,000 square-foot Lincoln School building into the citys new library.
The sale squashed those plans.
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Library board asks council: what now?