Hanover Park library branch to undergo renovation

For the first time since opening its doors in 1991, the Sonya Crawshaw Library Branch in Hanover Park will undergo a renovation.

The Poplar Creek Public Library District board hired PHN Architects of Aurora to come up with a design for the modest facility at 4300 Audrey Lane.

Board President Susan Spooner said the project’s main focus will be to re-purpose the large meeting room created under a 1990 intergovernmental agreement with Hanover Park. The village gave the library district the property on the condition it would maintain a dedicated gathering space.

“It’s very underused as a meeting room, whereas the (rest of the library) is so crowded you feel like a sardine,” Spooner said. “It makes sense to make better use of the space.”

The dated bathrooms will get a makeover and made compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Staff members also will be given a less cramped space with which to work.

The library district will use reserves to the fund the project, which officials hope to keep under $1 million including design fees. The building is smaller than 3,000 square feet.

“We’re going to have to be extremely watchful and we probably won’t get everything we want,” Spooner said. “But these will still be great improvements.”

Construction is expected to begin in the spring and wrap up by November 2013. Although exactly when is unclear, the branch will close for an extended period of time.

Spooner said closing the facility will allow the work to be done quicker and less expensively. Materials will be put in storage and staff members will transfer temporarily to the main library in Streamwood, which underwent a $22 million expansion in 2009.

The architectural firm will begin meeting with employees to discuss what improvements they’d like to see, Spooner said.

The Sonya Crawshaw branch was renamed in 2006 after Hanover Park’s longtime village clerk and village president.