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Plan calls for
major growth
of county library network Building
seven new libraries -- including one in cyberspace -- and
significantly renovating five existing facilities at a total
cost upwards of $75.9 million are envisioned in an ambitious
long-range plan.
New construction would
cost between an estimated $32.1 million and $33.6 million in
today's dollars and renovations would run between $43.8 million
and $47.7 million between now and 2030 under a master plan
presented to County Council. The plan follows on one adopted in
1990 which Anne Farley, general manager of the Department of
Community Services, said will be successfully implemented when
libraries in Claymont and south of the Chesapeake & Delaware
Canal, now in the planning stage, are built. The 13-page plan drafted by Himmel & Wilson, a
national library consulting firm, is "intended to provide a
blueprint for the future that will ensure that all residents ...
will have outstanding access to public library services for many
years to come," its introduction declares.
The plan calls for
setting up a "virtual branch" library on a county server which
would provide continuous remote electronic access to such things
as reference databanks, downloadable audio and e-books and
social networking contact. One of the plan's stated goals is
giving patrons "high-speed access to the digital world with no
unnecessary restrictions or fees." While Farley told a Council
committee on Oct. 26 that its adoption of the plan in December
would merely provide her department with a blueprint, she said
implementation could begin as soon as 2014 with planning for a
regional library south of the canal and a community library in
Middletown. Priority, she said, would be given to establishing a
community library in the Route 9 corridor southeast of
Wilmington.
Projects undertaken under the plan,
Farley said, would be financed roughly in thirds by county and
state governments and private contributions. "Libraries have
traditionally been built in areas where [community] advocacy has
been strong," she added. |