At its regular meeting June 12, the Belleville Area District Library Board voted 4-1 to pay up to $1,900 to bring library space expert Anders Dahlgren to Belleville to meet with the community sometime in September.
Board members Michael Boelter and Joseph Monte were absent from the meeting and excused.
Board member John Juriga voted against the plan, explaining the board’s architect Dan Whisler understands the language of the updated report written by Dahlgren and could discuss it with the board, instead of spending all that money for airfare, lodging, and meals for Dahlgren, who is based in Normal, IL.
Dahlgren, who Library Director Deb Green said was an international expert, was hired by the board at its April 10 meeting at a cost of $2,970 for 22 hours of work to provide an update on space needs for the new local libraries being planned.
He originally wrote a 2005 report on the space needs of the Fred C. Fischer Library, now the District Library, which forecast a need for 47,100 square feet of library space.
Since 2005 space needs have changed, since the tri-community library agreement called for two buildings — a main library and a satellite, census data projects a slight increase in library users, and other considerations.
Director Green gave a presentation on Dahlgren’s 58-page Library Space Needs Revisited report, with 28 pages of memos.
The updated recommendation from Dahlgren is for more space for the Belleville area library than he recommended in 2005.
The Recommended Gross Building Area for the main library now is 48,158 square feet, which is between the optimal 57,158 square feet and a moderate recommendation of 46,402 square feet. A low space allocation is 44,195 square feet.
Dahlgren recommends the satellite branch to have from a low space allocation of 5,914 square feet to an optimal size of 7,772 square feet.
Green said the library may be looking at a smaller book collection, but more floor space will be needed for shorter shelving to provide easier access to E-books. She also said the library will need double or more the amount of computers needed 10 years ago.
Green said Dahlgren would be better at explaining his report since he is an outside expert with no vested interest in this library.
She said people might think that the architect would make more money if the library is bigger, but if it is bigger Dahlgren doesn’t make more money.
“Anders can explain the thought process and be able to explain his numbers,” Green said, “considering if we do this and we build this, this is a huge financial undertaking for the community.
“The biggest investment a library will ever make is its building,” said board secretary Joy Cichewicz.
Cichewicz said she went through Dahlgren’s report and it was “glaringly obvious” what he was saying. “The E-books are not going to make that much difference” in reducing the size needed for the new library, as suggested by public comment in the past.
In other business at the June 12 meeting, the board:
• Approved a job description for a part-time library custodian at pay of $8-$9 per hour. The former custodian Paul Haven resigned after the death of his wife;
• Heard board member Juriga report on the rusted posts at the entryway to the library. He obtained price quotes and recommended Blue Ribbon Construction at $750 per post to repair four posts that are rusted through. Juriga said Judge Oakley at 34th District Court agreed to send a professional painter who needs to do community service to wire brush the rust and prime all the railings in front of the building; and
• Heard Juriga say he went to a solar energy meeting in Ypsilanti and, “We really need solar energy at our new library. It will be a cost savings in the future.”