Don Shrubshell photo

Clockwise from left, Hunter Hague, 14, Aaron Verduin, 9, Haven Hague, 10, Shane Norton, 14, and Jesse McGee, 12, gather around a computer at the Southern Boone County Public Library in Ashland after school to play a video game.

As the Mid-Missouri population keeps growing, the Daniel Boone Regional Library has tried to keep pace.

LIBRARY EXPANSION PLANS Voters in the Boone County Library District will be asked to approve a 21-cent property tax increase in the April 3 election. The tax would fund new library buildings north of Columbia and in Ashland.

ARTIST’S RENDERING OF NEW ASHLAND LIBRARY

Artist’s rendering courtesy of Daniel Barrenechea for Bottino Grund Architects

NORTHEAST COLUMBIA ASHLAND

THE COST OF BUILDING Northern branch • Construction cost: $5,540,250, or about $277 per square foot for a 20,000-square-foot building • Total project cost: $10,490,000* Southern branch • Construction cost: $2,690,138, or $243.89 per square foot for a 11,030-square-foot building • Total project cost: $5,055,000* PLANNED TIMETABLE 2008 Southern branch construction begins 2009 Southern branch opens Northern branch design process begins 2010 Northern branch construction begins 2011 Northern branch opens *Includes site development, architectural, engineering and attorney fees, furniture and equipment. Estimates reflect 2010 and 2008 prices, respectively.

Who will be asked to vote on the proposed library tax?

Residents can determine their library districts by checking their property tax bill, which will say “BC Library” or “Col Library.” The library system’s Web site has a map of the districts at newbranches.dbrl.org.

Source: Daniel Boone Regional Library

Lora Wegman graphic

Since 1999, additional branches have been included in the regional system’s long-range plan to meet the demands in Columbia and across Boone County.

"I really look at this as a regional system, and all of the parts are intertwined," Daniel Boone Regional Library Director Melissa Carr said. "The facilities all complement each other. The Columbia branch is the central location and acts as the headquarters, and the others complement the main facility."

To fund proposed branches south and north of Columbia, the regional library’s board of directors is asking voters in the Boone County Library District to approve a 21-cent property tax increase that would decrease by 5 cents after 10 years. The county library district encompasses all of Boone County except for areas inside the 1965 city limits of Columbia and Centralia. Owners of property inside the 1965 boundaries of Columbia and Centralia will not vote on the bond issue and would not pay the new tax.

Columbia Library District residents already are paying off the construction cost for the central branch at Broadway and Garth Avenue, completed in 2002. A homeowner in the Columbia Library District with a house appraised at $100,000 pays $100.13 in property tax each year toward retiring that bond, which will be paid off in 2017.

A Boone County Library District homeowner with property appraised at $100,000 now pays $56.73 in property taxes for the library. If voters approve the tax increase, the tax gap between the two districts would narrow but not disappear. The county library district homeowner would pay $96.63 for a $100,000 home, a nearly $40 increase.

About $5 million of the tax revenue would go to the Southern Boone County branch, planned for a 2.5-acre site on South Henry Clay Boulevard in Ashland, just south of an elementary school. Preliminary designs for the building detail an 11,000-square-foot structure - more than triple the size of the current facility, a leased building on Broadway.

ASHLAND BRANCH

The existing 3,300-square-foot library in Ashland has two main rooms, one for children and one for adults and teens. The children’s section has two small tables, a computer and a playhouse.

On a recent Monday morning, Pam Verduin read to about 10 toddlers and preschoolers for weekly story time before helping them with a St. Patrick’s Day craft.

Karen Wesselmann’s granddaughter, Grace, sat in front of the group and piped up with several questions and observations about the story.

Wesselmann, who has taken her 4-year-old granddaughter to story time for two years, likes the proposed branch library.

"We would definitely take advantage of the new space for story times and children’s programs," she said. "I’m excited. It’s needed very badly."

Because of limited shelf space, Wesselmann said, it’s harder to find books for Grace because the simpler children’s stories that have pictures and few words are grouped with more advanced stories for preschoolers.

"I end up having to read through each one before I choose to make sure she won’t get bored," she said.

Wesselmann said she and her husband also enjoy using the library, but she wishes there were larger collections of nonfiction and reference works, as well as more computer terminals for research.

"And I think it’s just a stroke of genius to put it next to the school," she said. "I think we need to get children used to reading and using books. Hopefully they will go regularly after school."

Tim Dollens has worked at the library for 17 years and has seen the southern branch grow from a bookmobile with 5,000 items to the current building. He said he hopes growth will continue with the new building.

"I’m excited about the opportunities this will allow," he said, seated at one of two tables in the adult section. The tables have room for four people, but only two can sit there if they’re doing homework.

"We can get a lot more information out to the public, have more meeting room space and more information readily available instead of people having to request it" from the central branch, Dollens said.

Monday and Tuesday afternoons usually are busiest, Dollens said, because students come after school to do homework and people stop by to pick up reserved items. On a recent Monday afternoon, Dollens counted 20 children and six adult library users. According to the library system Web site, 128 patrons use the Ashland library each day.

It’s difficult for patrons to browse and check out materials when classes or discussions are going on because tables used for those discussions are in the adult section among the bookshelves. That means One Read discussions, genealogy research assistance and book group meetings often are scheduled after regular library hours.

Last summer and fall, the library held public meetings in southern Boone County to gather input about what features library users would like to see in the new branch.

If voters approve the ballot measure, construction would begin in winter 2008 and the new building would open in spring 2009.

NORTHERN BRANCH

The tax hike on the April 3 ballot also will cover construction and operation of a new northern branch. The location of that building is still being negotiated, so no plans for construction have been drafted.

The library board has fixed its eyes on the northernmost section of the Atkins tract, owned jointly by Columbia and Boone County adjacent to the Boone County Fairgrounds.

Carr said a contract has been drawn up that provides the regional library an option until 2010 to obtain 6 to 10 acres for the library.

"In return, we will contribute $165,000 for the infrastructure and construction of Waco Road," she said.

The agreement must be approved by the Columbia City Council and the Boone County Commission, and both governments have given tentative support.

"My goal is to get the agreement before the city council prior to the April election," Columbia City Manager Bill Watkins said.

The Waco Road extension would link Route B and Highway 63 and is essential for the library to proceed with construction there. Proximity to the interchange would provide easy access for library users from Hallsville and Sturgeon.

"It’s a great site," Carr said. "East of 63 and north of I-70 is going to be a dense population."

If the road is not extended or is not included in Columbia plans by 2010, Carr said, the library board would look elsewhere for a site and has selected a "preferred area" in north Columbia where it would like to build.

EXPANSION PLANS

The Columbia branch will continue to be the main library, and Carr predicted that current users would still visit the downtown library but patronize satellite branches according to their schedules and personal preference.

In planning the branch locations, the board took population density into consideration and planned for the branches to be about a 15- or 20-minute drive from the central library.

"Folks that live within the Columbia Library District might use the north branch because it will be smaller and more compact," she said, noting that Hallsville and the north-Columbia area likely would use the new northern location. "Because the patrons have access to all of the branches, they can go to any of them for services."

Carr said that many users in Ashland primarily visit the southern branch to check out books but use the Columbia branch once a month for other materials and programming.

Of the materials checked out at the Columbia branch, a slightly higher percentage are borrowed by users in the county library district than by users in the Columbia Library District.

CAMPAIGN EFFORTS

The proposed tax increase also would cover operational expenses for all three branches, and money would be used this summer to keep the Columbia branch open on Sundays.

Regardless of the election outcome, Carr said, bookmobile service to Hallsville, Harrisburg and Sturgeon will remain constant.

Last month, a committee chaired by Don Stamper and Teresa Maledy organized to persuade voters to pass the ballot measure. Maledy said the committee has made presentations to community groups and received positive response from organizations such as the Optimist Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis Club. However, the group wasn’t able to reach its mid-March goal of raising $46,000.

"Fundraising has been slower than I personally expected it to go," Maledy said. "Sometimes it’s harder or more challenging to raise money for ballot issues. When you have a candidate, people tend to choose a favorite and monetarily back them."

Regardless of the amount raised by the committee, Maledy said, plans for printing brochures and direct mailings will move forward, just at a lower cost.

"We just want to encourage people to get out and vote," Maledy said. "I think people are behind the issue. They just need to get to the ballot box."

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