Agenda - 02-17-2005-6c - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange County Library tong-Range Facility Planning unlikely that space requirements will be substantially reduced by the electronic formats Space will still be required for the preservation of original valuable documents and materials not easily digitized. o Tbat the Orange County Public 1,ibrary courbine lire collections, staff, and services presently locnted at McDorrgle Middle Sekool nrrd the Century Center, and establisk one branch library facility to serve the Torun of Carrbaro, rvesterrr unincorporated areas of the Chapel Hill Torvnship, and the sorrtberrr area of Singlearn Torvusbip. It is estimated that given flee current 20 year population projections, a nero/y constructed facility oj25,000 square feet rvorrld be needed. Residents of Cazrboro have for many years depended on the Chapel Hill Public Library for library service and have been seeking a more accessible public library facility. To respond to these requests, the Orange County Public Library first opened a branch in the media center at McDougle Middle School. More recently, with support from the Town of Carrboro, it has added a Cybrazy downtown to complement hours and services at the school, Although the present facilities aze innovative approaches to addressing critical needs for library services, access and resources are limited. The public library at the Middle School operates only during the hours school is not in session. The opening of the Cybrazy is an attempt to increase access and extend hours available, but staffing, collections, and services are very limited.. The Carrboro Library Workgroup has recently recommended that astand-alone branch library of 6,000-8,000 square feet replace these two facilities. As the Orange County Library Task Porce reviewed this situation with the consultant, it agreed tlrat the need for service extends beyond the town limits of Carrboro and determined that the design population for a new facility should include the broader region of Southwest Orange County and discussed its potential role as a regional branch library similar to those in Walce County. As with the central library, the consultant developed a set of basic requirements for the branch using the proposed design population (including 20-year projections for the broader Southwest Orange population) and identified potential functions to be accommodated in the facility. Appendix A itemizes these requirements and functions. Appendix F calculates the proposed size of the facility based on the set of requirements and functions. The resulting optimal size for a newly constructed facility is 25,000 squae feet. Alternatives to constructing a facility of this size immediately include the following: • Leasing a smaller facility and moving to larger facilities as needs indicate • Constructing a smaller facility but locating it on a site which has space for an expanded facility o Tlrat the Orange County Public Library establish a brmrch library to serve Cheeks Torvnskip, its size depeuder+t on dre timing of the opening of the library and srrbsegrrent c/ranges in population projections for the tarvusbip. It is estimated t/rat, given the current l0yearpopulntlon projections, a aervly coustrrrcted facility of 10,000 square 17