Dolores Library plans to expand

Dolores Library plans to expand

June 30, 2001

STEVEN JACKSON, 3, of Dolores takes a look at a book in the Dolores Library on Wednesday. The cramped library is planning for a major expansion that will require a yes vote on a mill-levy increase in November. A contribution of $100,000 from the Dolores Town Board and another $100,000 from the library district will also help provide funds.

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

Working on a shoestring budget, Carole Arnold and the Dolores Library Board have transformed what was once a jail and a fire station into a cozy library for Dolores bibliophiles. Too cozy, in fact.

"We’ve used every inch that we have," says Arnold, the director of the Dolores library. "We are very resourceful around here."

Resourceful is right. Arnold and three other employees manage a library of only 2,200 square feet that includes a reading room, computer areas, young-adult and children’s book areas, and a cramped back office.

Over the years, Arnold has written many a grant to add space, but unless the library kicks the town out of the adjacent town hall, there is no room to expand any further.

So last month the Dolores Town Board agreed to contribute $100,000 to expanding the library on the west side, and the library district has $100,000 to contribute up front. The rest of the nearly $900,000 needed will have to come from grants, local fund-raising, and a favorable mill-levy vote in November.

"It’s like a domino effect. It all has to work or none of it’s going to work," explained Shawna Valdez, the chair of the library board.

The new expansion will more than double the current library space. It will include 5,120 square feet in new construction.

What is currently the youth and children’s rooms will be knocked down and a new extension to the main library area will be added. The expansion will allow for a large meeting room, more office space, double the collection size of 16,000 books and 2,500 books on tape, and more breathing room in general for patrons.

Also, the library district will ask town residents in November to approve a 1.8-mill increase in the mill levy to fund the $326,850 lease-purchase price for the addition. The new building will still be owned by the town, which will gain 2,130 square feet including a meeting room, office space, a conference and lunch room, and storage space. The estimated cost to residents would be $10 for every $100,000 of assessed property — less than the cost of a new book.

Currently, the library raises money through its fax and copy services. Arnold developed an inventive way to gain the latest books, too. Patrons with favorite authors sign up for the "First-to-Read Club." When the author writes a new book, the patron is the first to read it, and in exchange, purchases the book for the library.

Even though the Cortez library is newly remodeled, the Dolores Library is needed, especially for children and senior citizens who can’t drive to Cortez, Arnold says.

To help the library, call Pat Robbins at 882-1444.