Opening date set for new Cook Memorial Library

With construction rapidly progressing on a new library in Vernon Hills, Cook Memorial Public Library District officials have tentatively set a public opening for July 10.

The date was set because it's sandwiched in between Independence Day and the annual Summer Celebration, which is the following weekend.

"So that seemed like a good weekend," Acting Director Mary Ellen Stembal told the board Tuesday during its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night in Vernon Hills. Officials had been predicting a June opening for the facility.

The 20,000-square-foot, $7 million building is being built on Aspen Drive south of Route 60.

It will replace a small library in the basement of Vernon Hills' village hall that was designed to be temporary when it opened several years ago.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony and refreshments will be part of the opening-day festivities. There may also be some activities, but it won't be a huge deal, Stembal said.

A more celebratory grand opening ceremony is being planned and likely will be staged later in the summer, probably around when local children go back to school, Stembal said.

Board members were excited about the upcoming opening.

"I can't believe we're here already," Trustee Wendy Vieth said. "(It's) amazing."

The Vernon Hills library is one of two active Cook Memorial construction projects.

The historic library in downtown Libertyville's Cook Park is being expanded and renovated, also at an estimated cost of $7 million.

That effort should wrap up in the fall.

The Cook Park library closed in June 2009 to allow construction. Patrons have been using a temporary facility in a vacant storefront on Milwaukee Avenue.