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Ann
Hampton, county services manager, said the facility in
Talley-Day Park on Foulk Road will begin operation early next
spring. A specific date has not yet been set, but it will beat
the initial projection to have the facility operating some time
in fiscal 2004, which will not begin until July 1, 2003.
It will take that long after Wohlsen
Construction Co. turns the completed building over to New Castle
County in September to furnish and stock which what will
be the largest library in the state. The collection will be
about 150,000 books
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plus a
large assortment of audio visual material.
The process has already begun with
manager Tom Weaver and his staff at Concord Pike Library sorting
though that facility's collection to determine what items will
be moved to the new facility. The actual transfer will require
that the present library close a month of so before the new one
opens.
A large portion of the new
collection will consist of new items, acquired at a cost of
about $800,000.
James Conrad, president of the
Friends of |
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| The
Brandywine Hundred Branch library nears completion. |
Concord Pike
Library, said that a myriad of details will be addressed during
the final six months of the long wait -- more than 15 years --
for a new library to replace the long since outmoded one in
Talleyville.
The
result, however, will be certain to measure up to expectations
with the facility being a blend of state-of-the-art with homey
ambiance. Fireplaces and verandas where folks can sip coffee
while leisurely reading will be cheek-to-jowl with
computer terminals wired for electronic research.
Hampton
said the new library -- previously referred to as the Northern
Regional Library -- is intended as part of an integrated
countywide system. It and the existing libraries will be
designated as branches around a central administrative core.
The
Brandywine Hundred branch will be open seven days a week. The
others now operate on six-day schedules.
Conrad
noted that the county government commitment includes providing
for nine additional staff positions beyond the complement at
Concord Pike. Delaware Department of Transportation also is in
the final stages of preparing to install a traffic signal at the
entrance, which serves both the park and the library.
The
Friends organization is conducting the public solicitation to
raise $3 million of the $11.6 million it is costing to build and
equip the library. So far, it has raised $2 million, he said.
The drive actually has about $500,000 more to go because the
Longwood Foundation has pledged to provide the final installment
once $2.5 million is reached.
Hampton
said there is no concern that the drive evidently will not go
over the top before the building is finished. "The end of a
capital campaign is always the hardest," she said. "It won't
delay anything." As happened with other new libraries in
Hockessin and Bear, the actual opening is expected to generate
sufficient public interest to complete the funds raising.
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