Check it out: DeKalb Public Library expansion opens Monday

DeKALB – Six-year-old Nolan Tobin of DeKalb has always been excited to visit the library.

Tobin and his mother Alicia toured the DeKalb Public Library last week. They were interested in getting a glimpse of the library’s expansion before it opens to the public on Monday.

“I was impressed by the grandness of it all,” Alicia Tobin said. “It’s a stark difference from the older building, from its bigger size to the automatic book return. I think that the new expansion makes the library exciting and fun.”

The library at 309 Oak St. has been closed since Dec. 6 as it expanded into its new 46,000-square-foot building.

The new part of the library will be open to the public while the original 19,500-square-foot building is renovated. Work has already begun and is expected to be complete in July. The library will then be closed for four weeks to expand into the renovated building. The 65,500-square-foot library will reopen with a dedication ceremony in August.

Expanding the library

The $25.3 million library expansion to more than triples the overall size of the facility. Funding for the project included an $11.6 million library grant from the state of Illinois and more than $10 million from a combination of city funds, municipal bonds and library reserves. Three local banks lent the library the remaining $3 million, and the library continues to fundraise $2.2 million.

Construction on the expansion began in July 2014. Library communications manager Edith Craig said construction has been on budget and on time since the beginning.

“Expansion began in 2007, when the board made the decision at the very beginning that they needed to do something to expand,” Craig said. “Since then, we were looking at locations, and property next door opened up.

The old library building, the Haish Memorial Library, was designed by Chicago architects White and Weber and built in 1930 in the art deco style with funds left to the library by barbed wire inventor Jacob Haish in his 1928 will.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the new extension features art deco elements, including four pillars in the main lobby similar to the pillars in the previous lobby. The old building’s exterior wall was cleaned with baking soda and was included in the expansion’s design as an interior wall.

“I think that the extension is an entwinement of history of modernity, mirroring the old and adding a touch of new,” said Samantha Hathaway, library communications assistant. “The old building was built in the art deco style, and the new has the same features. It’s the old and new coming together to form one big, beautiful building.”

New additions

DeKalb Public Library Director Dee Coover said at the heart of the library’s expansion is technology.

“The digital revolution changed society and the idea of the library being just a place to check out books,” Coover said. “To revolutionize and embrace technology, we needed to change our infrastructure.”

Since the start of the expansion, Patrick Smith, library facilities and IT maintenance manager, has been hard at work setting up wires and transforming the library into a technology hub.

“About 25,000 people log into the library’s computers a month,” Smith said. “Even more individuals log into the library’s wi-fi. The new building has Cat 6 cabling and wiring, the newest standard of copper cable for networking. The new cabling is newer and faster than what we had before.”

Hathaway said that a year and a half ago, the library polled patrons, asking them why they visited the library. The majority of people said borrowing materials; the second-highest used service was the library’s free Internet and computers.

Other technology changes include machines that allow library patrons to check out stacks of materials out at the same time, an automatic book return that sorts returned items into bins and DVD machines that house and distribute the library’s 4,000 DVDs. The quiet room in the adult section has acoustic paneling in its walls to block out noise.

The renovated building will have a collaboration classroom, three 3D printers, a laser cutter and a webcam for teleconferencing. Even the library’s bathrooms have received new technology: sinks, toilets and even the doors to enter the bathroom are all motion sensitive. Patrons can even check out bicycle helmets from the library, donated by the DeKalb nonprofit Axletree.

Even though technology is revolutionizing libraries, Coover said librarians will always be on hand to help patrons.

“Librarians are the navigators of the digital world,” she said. “The library will offer classes on coding and computers. Libraries have always been levelers of the playing field, allowing access to information to all.”

Tim Vincent, principal of Clinton Rosette Elementary School, toured the library and was impressed by the building’s use of technology.

“Usually, when you think of the library, you don’t think of cutting-edge technology,” he said. “But from the way you check out and return books to the meeting rooms, the library has advanced. It is truly a modern library.”

The youth services department, located on the upper level of the new building, features the most changes, including a Lego wall, a room for toddlers designed to look like a tree and a puppet theater.

“I think that the children’s department is amazing,” Kerri McCastland, dean of students at DeKalb High School, said while touring the library. “They can plug in their Chromebooks right on the desk, turn around and play on the Lego wall and when they’re done with that, they can swivel in their chair and read a book. Even the chairs are stimulating.”

When the expansion and renovation project is complete, the library will have a small, medium and large meeting room and nine study rooms: four in the renovated building, two for teens and three in the youth services department.

“We held six public forums, asking the public what they wanted from the expansion, and the overwhelming response was that they needed more meeting space,” Craig said. “About 70 percent of the expansion’s lower level is meeting space that can be rented for a minimal charge.”

The new library is LEED certified for energy efficiency and is fully handicapped-accessible with elevators and ramps.

“Now, everyone will enter the library through one entrance, there will no longer be a side entrance with a wheel chair lift,” Craig said. “Everybody that enters through our new front entrance will have the same experience.”

Grand opening celebration

To celebrate the grand opening of the library’s extension, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Steering Committee, in collaboration with the DeKalb Public Library and Black Male Initiative, will hold a service project Monday as part of MLK Celebration Week.

The event will include book readings, arts and crafts, a keynote speech by Leroy Mitchell, the co-pastor of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in DeKalb, and a panel discussion about peace and inclusion at 11 a.m.

DeKALB – Six-year-old Nolan Tobin of DeKalb has always been excited to visit the library.

Tobin and his mother Alicia toured the DeKalb Public Library last week. They were interested in getting a glimpse of the library’s expansion before it opens to the public on Monday.

“I was impressed by the grandness of it all,” Alicia Tobin said. “It’s a stark difference from the older building, from its bigger size to the automatic book return. I think that the new expansion makes the library exciting and fun.”

The library at 309 Oak St. has been closed since Dec. 6 as it expanded into its new 46,000-square-foot building.

The new part of the library will be open to the public while the original 19,500-square-foot building is renovated. Work has already begun and is expected to be complete in July. The library will then be closed for four weeks to expand into the renovated building. The 65,500-square-foot library will reopen with a dedication ceremony in August.

Expanding the library

The $25.3 million library expansion to more than triples the overall size of the facility. Funding for the project included an $11.6 million library grant from the state of Illinois and more than $10 million from a combination of city funds, municipal bonds and library reserves. Three local banks lent the library the remaining $3 million, and the library continues to fundraise $2.2 million.

Construction on the expansion began in July 2014. Library communications manager Edith Craig said construction has been on budget and on time since the beginning.

“Expansion began in 2007, when the board made the decision at the very beginning that they needed to do something to expand,” Craig said. “Since then, we were looking at locations, and property next door opened up.

The old library building, the Haish Memorial Library, was designed by Chicago architects White and Weber and built in 1930 in the art deco style with funds left to the library by barbed wire inventor Jacob Haish in his 1928 will.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the new extension features art deco elements, including four pillars in the main lobby similar to the pillars in the previous lobby. The old building’s exterior wall was cleaned with baking soda and was included in the expansion’s design as an interior wall.

“I think that the extension is an entwinement of history of modernity, mirroring the old and adding a touch of new,” said Samantha Hathaway, library communications assistant. “The old building was built in the art deco style, and the new has the same features. It’s the old and new coming together to form one big, beautiful building.”

New additions

DeKalb Public Library Director Dee Coover said at the heart of the library’s expansion is technology.

“The digital revolution changed society and the idea of the library being just a place to check out books,” Coover said. “To revolutionize and embrace technology, we needed to change our infrastructure.”

Since the start of the expansion, Patrick Smith, library facilities and IT maintenance manager, has been hard at work setting up wires and transforming the library into a technology hub.

“About 25,000 people log into the library’s computers a month,” Smith said. “Even more individuals log into the library’s wi-fi. The new building has Cat 6 cabling and wiring, the newest standard of copper cable for networking. The new cabling is newer and faster than what we had before.”

Hathaway said that a year and a half ago, the library polled patrons, asking them why they visited the library. The majority of people said borrowing materials; the second-highest used service was the library’s free Internet and computers.

Other technology changes include machines that allow library patrons to check out stacks of materials out at the same time, an automatic book return that sorts returned items into bins and DVD machines that house and distribute the library’s 4,000 DVDs. The quiet room in the adult section has acoustic paneling in its walls to block out noise.

The renovated building will have a collaboration classroom, three 3D printers, a laser cutter and a webcam for teleconferencing. Even the library’s bathrooms have received new technology: sinks, toilets and even the doors to enter the bathroom are all motion sensitive. Patrons can even check out bicycle helmets from the library, donated by the DeKalb nonprofit Axletree.

Even though technology is revolutionizing libraries, Coover said librarians will always be on hand to help patrons.

“Librarians are the navigators of the digital world,” she said. “The library will offer classes on coding and computers. Libraries have always been levelers of the playing field, allowing access to information to all.”

Tim Vincent, principal of Clinton Rosette Elementary School, toured the library and was impressed by the building’s use of technology.

“Usually, when you think of the library, you don’t think of cutting-edge technology,” he said. “But from the way you check out and return books to the meeting rooms, the library has advanced. It is truly a modern library.”

The youth services department, located on the upper level of the new building, features the most changes, including a Lego wall, a room for toddlers designed to look like a tree and a puppet theater.

“I think that the children’s department is amazing,” Kerri McCastland, dean of students at DeKalb High School, said while touring the library. “They can plug in their Chromebooks right on the desk, turn around and play on the Lego wall and when they’re done with that, they can swivel in their chair and read a book. Even the chairs are stimulating.”

When the expansion and renovation project is complete, the library will have a small, medium and large meeting room and nine study rooms: four in the renovated building, two for teens and three in the youth services department.

“We held six public forums, asking the public what they wanted from the expansion, and the overwhelming response was that they needed more meeting space,” Craig said. “About 70 percent of the expansion’s lower level is meeting space that can be rented for a minimal charge.”

The new library is LEED certified for energy efficiency and is fully handicapped-accessible with elevators and ramps.

“Now, everyone will enter the library through one entrance, there will no longer be a side entrance with a wheel chair lift,” Craig said. “Everybody that enters through our new front entrance will have the same experience.”

Grand opening celebration

To celebrate the grand opening of the library’s extension, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Steering Committee, in collaboration with the DeKalb Public Library and Black Male Initiative, will hold a service project Monday as part of MLK Celebration Week.

The event will include book readings, arts and crafts, a keynote speech by Leroy Mitchell, the co-pastor of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in DeKalb, and a panel discussion about peace and inclusion at 11 a.m.