Moses Lake Library group raises funds
The computer area of the Moses Lake Community Library is electronically maxed out, according to members of the library foundation board who are raising money to remodel the facility.
MOSES LAKE - It will take a lot of money to expand the Moses Lake Library to 30,000 square feet.
The Moses Lake Public Library Foundation is selling T-shirts for $20 to help raise funds for future construction. Plans are to remodel the existing 10,000 square-foot facility and add a news 20,000 square-foot section.
The plans would expand the facility toward the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce building and there are three potential layouts available for people to see online at www.mlplf.org.
"Moses Lake is ready for a better library," says foundation board member Rebecca Hutsell, "We have nice fire stations, a good hospital, city parks and this falls right in with those things."
Hutsell, with board members Ellie Webb and Don Calbick, handed out informational brochures and sold T-shirts to passers-by at the first of two informational sessions hosted by the foundation.
The second session is Feb. 15 at the Moses Lake Community Library, 418 Fifth Ave., from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. T-shirts will be available.
The foundation selected three potential floor plans for the remodeled and expanded facility design and is raising funds to set the process in motion.
"We want to include some small meeting areas and study rooms that are quiet enough, make things handicap accessible and move the children's area away from the front doors," says Library Supervisor Connie Kuhlmann. "But we need $11 million, roughly."
Kuhlmann says the foundation raised about $60,000 for plans and preliminary costs.
"We are really close to having the final numbers on cost and being able to tell people," says Kuhlmann.
With only seven outlets in the main area, Kuhlmann says electricity is at a premium in a facility not designed for so many electronics. Although staff have placed surge protectors all over the library to allow laptop users more mobility, Kuhlmann says the library can't add any more technology because there isn't room.
When the library was built in 1964, the population of Moses Lake was just around 8,000 residents. Today there are more than 35,000 in the greater Moses Lake area.
"They're really trying to meet the needs of all the people coming into town," says Hutsell.
Circulation Supervisor Barbara Galloway says she has worked at the library for 20 years and the facility would benefit from an overhaul.
"It's just too full," Galloway says. "We have no more room to put anything."
For more information, call the library at 509-765-3489.