By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER – The Keyser/Mineral County Library Board met Monday night, sketching out design plans for the planned new library off of Southern Drive.
Librarian Connie Sutton led the board in reviewing a “wish list” of features for the facility, which will replace the cramped quarters of a former Main Street bank that the library has occupied since the early 1960s.
Surveying the list of priorities, from passive solar lighting and a front porch, to outdoor sculptures and a coffee kiosk, Sutton said the items chosen will define the next generation library to serve the larger Keyser community for many years to come.
“What do you want from the library?” she said of the list.
Once the list is pared down, it will be provided to architectural firms to help them design the building.
Library board members said public involvement in the project will be critical. The garden areas, they noted, might be maintained by a garden club or 4-H students. Sculptures and artwork would be provided by local artists and perhaps even displayed as for sale.
“I think the more people we get involved, the better,” said board member Steffi Ridgel.
One of Sutton's priorities for new library will be a sizable meeting room, complete with limited kitchen facilities to handle catered events. “I'd like to see this room be a room for community functions,” she said.
A West Virginia collections room, by contrast, will be off limits for food and drink, and will serve as a quiet reading area.
Ridgel, one of five board members reviewing the wish list, cited a pressing need, for ample, free parking. In addition to its cramped interior, the current library lacks a parking area, forcing patrons to find spots on Main Street, and feed the parking meter.
“Every single solitary person who has written me an email has mentioned free parking,” Ridgel said.
Sutton said she wants to provide children's-only computers, with educational programs loaded on the machines, and limited Internet access. In addition, she wants to reach out to teens, some of whom have made the downtown library a favored haunt. “This has become the hangout place for young adults,” she said. “That's wonderful.”
While it will likely be years before patrons and staff would miss the current library building, Sutton said she hopes some features can be incorporated into the new facility, including the marble front counter and a massive chandelier hidden above a drop ceiling. “I think we should take something from this old building,” she said.
Library officials have no firm construction date for the project, as they are pursuing the new building in measured steps. However, Ridgel said it will not be “years and years,” but rather a hoped-for two years or so before the doors open.
The Keyser-Mineral County Public Library was founded as a Works Progress Administration library and 1937. In 1941 it moved to a grade school, and relied entirely on donations for support. The facility became a public library in 1950 when the city and county agreed to provide annual funding. The library moved to its current location in 1962 when Farmers & Merchants Bank donated its Main Street building. Today the library is funded jointly by the Mineral County Commission, the city of Keyser, the Mineral County Board of Education and the West Virginia Library Commission.
Land for a new Keyser Public Library was purchased about 10 years ago near the bowling alley on Southern Drive.
