Friday, June 17, 2005

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Library finish delayed

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The renovation of Peachtree City’s library has been pushed back a bit, now set for Oct. 7.

After that date, the library’s contents have to be moved back from their temporary location at the former World Gym on Commerce Drive. That process is expected to take approximately two weeks, during which time the library will be closed, said Jill Prouty, the library’s technology and training manager.

The building was originally slated to be open in late August for the move-in, but problems with an interior wall in the existing portion of the building had to be addressed. The wall had to be torn down and rebuilt at a cost of $155,506. The money came from the contingency fund for the project, and there are no more such problems expected with the project, Prouty said. All told, there remains $92,809 in the contingency fund for the project.

The library will use $50,000 in the budget as planned to buy new books, DVDs and CDs, Prouty said.

Although one focal point of the new library will be the expanded childrens section, the library will buy “a little bit of everything” with its book money instead of splurging on the youth titles.

The library typically spends about $115,000 a year on new books, Prouty noted. Although some of the furniture in the library will be new, some of the seating is being refurbished and the shelves are being repainted, Prouty said. Orchestrating that project along with the move is challenging, she added, but the new furniture selected came in $65,000 under original budget projections, Prouty added.

One of the new building’s main features is a large fireplace with gas logs that will be surrounded by “comfy” furniture, Prouty said. There will also be a “cafe” area with a snack machine and comfortable furniture for young library patrons to use.

The architecture of the building was designed to have more natural light coming in compared to the previous building, Prouty said.

Library patrons have been very accommodating of the temporary library, which has turned out well, Prouty said. She was proud that the library’s entire collection is still available despite the move, a feat other libraries haven’t been able to pull off when moving to a temporary location, she said.

“Everybody has access to everything,” Prouty said, adding that there haven’t been any complaints about the temporary facility.