Cooperation With School: Possible 7,000-Square-Foot Facility Could Also House Museum, Community Center
Posted: Friday, December 10, 2010 10:41 am | Updated: 10:54 am, Fri Dec 10, 2010.
The Timberland Regional Library District is working with various community groups in Oakville on plans to build a new library on a parcel of school district-owned land, according to Timberland communications manager Jeff Kleingartner. The land is adjacent to the school and U.S. Highway 12.
Library district representatives, city officials, members of the Friends of the Oakville Library and other community members held an initial meeting last month to discuss the possibility of building a new library. More meetings are tentatively scheduled for next month, though no dates have been finalized, Kleingartner said.
The size of the proposed new building would be approximately 7,000 square feet, Kleingartner said. The library will take up about 3,000 square feet and the remaining 4,000 feet may be used to house a community center and a museum.
A museum in Oakville would be a new venture, according to Oakville Chamber of Commerce President Bill Scholl. He said Oakville does not have a designated community center, but the local VFW hall has been used for various community functions.
The library district is working with an architect on building plans, but a price on the library won’t be determined until building plans are drafted, Kleingartner said. He added funding will likely come from various grants and private donations. Kleingartner said the conceptual plans should be drafted by spring of 2011, though there is no timeline to build the new library. He said once the new library is built, it would be up to the city to figure out what to do with the space vacated by the current library. Oakville city clerk and treasurer Amy Durga said the city council has not had any discussions about what to do with the current library should a new one be built.
Oakville’s current library shares space with the city’s municipal offices. The library itself is about 2,000 square feet, Kleingartner said. The library would be open for general public use and would be open for students in the Oakville School District to access during the day, Kleingartner said. The new library would be the first in the library’s five-county district to have a joint agreement with a school.
“Students would have access to much more information, computers, and skilled library staff who can help them do research and find things,” Kleingartner said.
The current library is open 24 hours a week. Kleingartner said it’s unclear right now if the library district would hire any additional staff. He said modifying its hours might be a possibility in order for students to access it during and after school.
Oakville School District Superintendent Kathy Lorton did not return phone messages The Chronicle left by press time. An employee at the Oakville library referred questions to library manager Deborah Baker-Receniello, who was out of her office.