‘Good bones’

When Brenda Tripp-Lanser took over as director of the Monroe Public Library four years ago, she noticed immediately the facility “had good bones.”

“We’re blessed because we have a nice space,” Lanser said. “I’m a person who says everything has to have a purpose, so when I came here they kept saying ‘let’s build, let’s build, let’s build.’ I said ‘hang on here. Let’s make this place work first.’”

Both Monroe and Prairie City’s public libraries are stretched for space. They have a lack of storage and meeting room capacity to meet a demand for programming. In the next year, both libraries have plans to fix that problem.

The Friends of the Monroe Public Library is preparing a Request to Build to be presented to the city council in April. The proposal includes expanding the library by 2,999 square-feet, nearly doubling the current space. The most up to date rendering adds two dedicated meeting rooms, two restrooms, a kitchen and mechanical/electrical room.

Lanser said the plan would fulfill the need for a new community room in Monroe. There is a community room at city hall, but she argues it is already used heavily for congregate meals and other programming. There has also been discussion of putting meeting room space in Monroe’s proposed trailhead building on the Red Rock Prairie Trail.

But Lanser and library advocates see the library as a good choice to fulfill the need. The library’s existing meeting space only holds 39.4 people at capacity. The proposed new meeting space(s) will have a 120-person capacity.

The request the Friends of the Library will submit to the city breaks that need down by the numbers. In 2013, the Monroe Library had 12 programs serving 234 visitors. By 2017, that number grew to 85 programs serving 1,600 visitors.

One example is the library’s annual Halloween party. In 2016, the party had 110 in attendance. Last year it grew to 155. Having a meeting room with only a 39-person capacity, the event was moved to the old Legion Hall at CJ’s Bar and Grill. The library’s Summer Reading Show drew 158 in 2016.

“We have people who come to visit the library right now and they say ‘really, you need more room?’” Lanser said. “But if you look at that, 85 programs, we’re using the property a lot.”

Lanser knows there’s a lot of fundraising to do. The project’s estimated cost is $500,000, and the majority will be funded by the Friends of the Library and other outside funding sources. Planners hope the project can also be done in partnership with the city of Monroe. The library property is owned by the city, and any expansion would have to be approved by the city council.

One way the separate space will be used in an everyday capacity is to have a larger play space for young children and families, which Lanser said is not currently keeping up with demand.

The space is also heavily utilized by more than just library programming. PCM Lego League, Monroe Hometown Pride, PCM school district department employee meetings and the Department of Human Services supervised visitations all meet at the library. Lanser said it’s “really a community center.”

Prairie City Public Library

Down the road in Prairie City, public library director Sue Ponder is having the same problem.

“We have no space, and anytime we have a program we basically shut down,” Ponder said. “It’s hard to get around when you have 30 kids right here.”

In spring 2015, Ponder applied for a grant to have a needs assessment conducted. The result showed the Prairie City library needs to grow by 1.5-times its current space to meet the needs of the community.

The assessment was conducted by George Lawson of Ames, library planner for the State Library of Iowa. He calculated the Prairie City library needs a total of 5,615 square feet to match demand in the next 20 to 25 years. The library currently has 2,070 square feet.

Ponder said library staff has met with four different architectural firms and, in coordination with the library board and its Friends group, they’re trying to come to a decision. The library board met Wednesday and will likely present an update to the city council in March, looking for the OK to proceed with planning.

“They’ve come up with some ideas that are really high end, but we know we’re not going in that direction,” Ponder said. “We’re trying to get the initial drawings and schematics done so we can pursue other grants and funding opportunities.”

Ponder said they will not ask for city funding at this stage of the project. The library has access to funding from a dedicated trust, a donation from the Uri Sellers Foundation and the Friends of the Prairie City Public Library.

The big addition would be a new meeting room with exterior access, so the library doesn’t need to be open for a community group to utilize the space.

Ponder said the addition would also allow for a larger children’s activity area and more private study space.

“If you’re taking a test or studying right now, and there are kids in here, it’s hard to concentrate,” Ponder said. “We do out best ... libraries are the heart of a community. There’s no adult education here, there are no places for teenagers to gather. There’s not a lot of after-school activities that aren’t’ organized (clubs or sports). We could fill that need and a need for seniors. But we can’t do that with the space we have.”

Contact News Editor Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@myprairiecitynews.com