Wellman library hoping to expand

WELLMAN — The Wellman City Council granted permission to the city’s public library Aug. 15 to pursue a major building expansion. Now, library officials say they’re gearing up to take on the hurdle of fundraising for the project, which would more than double the building’s size.

Wellman-Scofield Library Director Erin Campbell said the new space — repurposed from the adjacent city-owned section that once housed the Goodwin Senior Dining center and alternative learning center — would meet many library needs. The list includes extra shelving, a private study room, an on-site programming area, accessibility for people with disabilities, storage and an employee work space.

“We can’t really continue to grow at this point, we’ve kind of reached full capacity where we are,” Campbell said. “We’re trying really hard to be a community center here where we have all ages come … it’s just hard to facilitate those things because of our size, it’s hard to have that many people in here.”

The cost comes in at a hefty $832,860. While the city made plans for renovations totaling $500,000, around 2018, that project didn’t go through. Campbell said while the new project would cost more, it would do less than the original blueprint.

“We’re trying to be good stewards of the money and not doing things with the money we don’t need to,” she said. “If we were to do the same blueprint that they created then, it would be almost $1 million. So we had them redo that original plan to bring that number down and save money, but also be able to provide all of the services that we wanted to give to our community.”

If it goes through, renovations will take the library from 2,500 square feet to 5,890.

“It’s a big upgrade,” Campbell said. “It’s kind of startling to see the comparison, we really don’t have that much space when you look at it.”

The high price tag is mostly due to the condition of the adjacent property, which she said was not safe for use as-is.

“There’s mold, and it’s just been neglected for too long,” Campbell said. “There’s water coming up from the floor. And we can’t just break a door into the wall … the floor is not level to our floor, it would be a foot drop, and it’s a load-bearing wall so we can’t just cut into it.”

Over $200,000 has already been raised, roughly half of it from an allocation of municipal funds, according to Campbell. The rest will come from a mix of community donations (which are tax-deductible) as well as -staff hope — a grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation, which they’ve applied for.

There is a sense of urgency for the renovations. Campbell said the library’s maximum-capacity shelving and limited space were getting more pressing as use of the building grows.

“It’s important that we do get it soon or we’re going to have to start weeding some more books or cutting some more programs or trying different things,” she said. “It would just be harder if we don’t get it sometime in the near future … we had over 100 kids for the summer reading program, we have regular people who come in for events, 10-15 each week in a back corner where there’s only three or four chairs. We don’t really have designated spaces where we can have events versus regular operations.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com