Madison County Library officials received word recently that their long-awaited library expansion plans can move forward.
On June 8, Gov. Sonny Perdue officially signed the state of Georgia’s $17.9 billion budget for fiscal year 2011, which includes two significant library construction projects – one in Madison County.
The library’s board of trustees, Friends group and staff members have made plans over the last five years to expand the library building’s square footage from its current 10,000 square feet to an estimated 17,500 square feet.
“This addition will enable the library to expand computer access for the residents of the county improve services for children and provide new services for the community as a whole,” Athens Regional Library System director Kathryn Ames said in this month’s edition of the Georgia Public Library Service News, released Tuesday. “We plan to enlarge the children’s area to better separate it from quieter areas of the library, and we will design the space to focus on our Every-Child-Ready-to-Read principles, which means more educational activities for younger children. We will also have a homework center; establish a separate teen area with computers; enlarge what are the only public meeting spaces in the county; and provide a business center with fax, copier and printers.”
The project’s $2.1 million cost includes $1,517,200 in state funds and $582,800 in local (SPLOST) funds.
“We are very appreciative of the support from our legislative delegation, the Madison County Commission,
GPLS and the library board for their work on this project,” Ames said. “This library’s focus on families and education is essential to our goal of building and maintaining well-educated communities.”
State construction plans for libraries moved the library to fourth on the list this year, up from 18th place last year.
Then in January, the governor failed to recommend any library construction projects be included in the 2011 budget. State legislators later added the Cherokee Regional Library System’s LaFayette-Walker County Public
Library and the Athens Regional Library System’s Madison County project back into the budget.
“Truthfully, for the past couple of months the entire board of trustees has basically just been going about our daily affairs with the thoughts of whether or not our library would make it through the governor’s screening process lingering each day in the back of our minds, yet hopeful for just exactly this news,” Madison County Library Board of Trustee chairman Mike Moak said. “This has been a long process and I speak for the entire board when I say that the news today from Mrs. Ames, our regional director, is exciting and shows that our legislators and representatives have kept the interest and future benefit of the community (in mind) by setting aside this library expansion funding.”
