Geneva library eyes ways to eke out work, study space

It's going to be a long while before Genevans see a new, larger library. So library officials are looking for ways to make the most of the space they have now.

The library board's building and grounds committee late last week discussed remodeling areas on the second floor, which is where the adult and teen services departments and library administrative offices are located.

The library has already moved all the public-access Internet computers out of the room they were in and put them out near the stacks in anticipation of turning the Internet room in to a larger work space for staff.

Officials are also thinking about recycling the computer carrels, if possible, into study carrels and placing them along the north wall of the library, to accommodate more people who meet at the library for tutoring sessions.

The new adult-services staff work space, to the north of the present circulation desk, would allow the library to bring its graphics and computer personnel in from various parts of the building. It would also move the assistant director and the adult services outreach coordinator in to the old staff work space, closer to all the other workers. Presently, they are housed in small private-study rooms in the east wing of the library. Those rooms could be returned to their original purpose, or for small user groups to meet.

Why bother remodeling the building, parts of which are 101 years old, again?

"We're 10 years out, realistically," from building a new library, board President Esther Barclay said. The library has set aside money to buy the site of the former Sixth Street School, which Kane County owns, and build there. But the downturn in the economy has slowed the population growth the library once expected; a development of several hundred homes on its western edge appears to be at a standstill. Barclay also said it would take several years to design and build a new library.

"This (the remodeling) is about using every inch," she said.

Burnidge Cassell Associates of Elgin designed the plan. Library director Matt Teske expects to present it to the full board Thursday, Feb. 26.

If the board agrees, the library would seek bids from general contractors for the remodeling, and bids from furniture suppliers for furnishings.

No costs have been estimated yet.