By: Lori Kersey, Staff Writer | Posted: Feb. 12, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail
It will be at least three months before the Kanawha County Public Library can set up a temporary space in the old Clendenin Middle School, a library official said Monday.
The library is working on drafting a lease with 25045 — A New Clendenin, the nonprofit that owns the building, director Alan Engelbert told the library board Monday at the its regular meeting.
The fountain outside the main branch of the Kanawha County Public Library on Capitol Street in Charleston. Gazette-Mail file photo
The Kanawha County Commission has committed $50,000 toward renovation work at the space. The work will include taking down some walls within the facility as well as lighting and electrical work. It’s expected to take about 90 days, Engelbert said.
“I think anyone who’s doing a construction project who gives you a fixed date is probably kidding themselves,” Englebert said. “The county commission is going to be coordinating most of that work. So a lot of it will be up to their control.”
Englebert said the library appreciates the commission giving $50,000 to the project.
“We’re not sure that will cover all the expenses, and maybe the library will have to step up a little bit,” he said.
In the meantime, the library is preparing shelves, tables and chairs that it will need to put in the space. It’s also putting together a collection of books and materials, Engelbert said.
Though the library’s Clendenin facility was destroyed in the June 2016 flood, the library has retained the budget for the library branch, Engelbert said.
Last year the commission threatened to pull its $3.2 million in funding if the board decided not to rebuild the Clendenin branch.
Engelbert said the library’s space at the old middle school will be temporary.
Also Monday, Engelbert said the library has hired West Virginia Commercial to identify possible temporary locations for the main branch of the library during its upcoming $27 million expansion and renovation project.
Engelbert said library officials have yet to meet with the company to hear what those locations might be. The project is scheduled for this fall and is expected to take 18 to 24 months, during which the main branch will be moved to a temporary location.
The library board chose a bid from a Texas company for the first phase of a project that will allow self-checkout of library materials. The board chose PV Supa’s bid of $73,320 for radio frequency identification tags and programming.
The self-checkout will be implemented across the library system as the renovated main branch reopens, he said.
The equipment will have to be purchased before that happens, he said.
“We’re not going to do that right now,” Engelbert said. “We’ll do that as this branch gets closer to completion.”
In other business:
- The library board approved a request from the Kanawha County Commission to allow the Sissonville branch to be a polling place for early voting from April 25 to May 5.
- Appointed a committee to search for a replacement for Engelbert, who has announced he will retire in July.
