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January 7, 2010

Plans afoot to rebuild the Watchung Library

By Independent Press
January 06, 2010,

By Diane Thorn

WATCHUNG — Residents of the Borough of Watchung can look forward to some big changes at the library in 2010. If all goes as planned, ground could be broken this year on a project to completely rebuild the more than 60-year-old building.

During a year-end interview, Watchung Borough Mayor Albert Ellis said, “Hopefully we can put a shovel in the ground in 2010… . The architectural firm that will be selected will let us know of the best target dates to begin the project.”

“A large percent of the financial support hopefully would be done by donations,” said the mayor. “The interesting thing about this project is the overall cost. We will have to see the overall impact the project will have on the taxpayers.” To help offset the costs, the borough will aggressively apply for grants from the State of New Jersey to fund special projects such as the expansion of the library.

According to the mayor the building, which is located at 12 Stirling Road, needs more space for both materials and patrons and needs to be more energy efficient.

“The new building we want to build is going to be ‘green,’” said Ellis, “The architect we choose will be specific on issues for ‘going green’ on this project.”

There will be several updates included in the project which will make the library be more energy efficient. The architectural firms interested in this project have been asked to present their ideas on how to make the building “green” as part of the decision process.
Ellis said there have been a number of interviews conducted in the course of the past several months with architectural firms to determine which firm should be hired for the project.

“The Library Committee continues its hard work interviewing candidates for the architectural services needed for the new library,’ he said. “The candidates will be required to make their presentation in a reasonable amount of time,” said Ellis. “Their ideas of the concept (for the building) we would like early enough in 2010 to know about the final construction. It is hard to sit here now and know when the project will happen. We will wait and see how/what is involved in the project by the architects.”
In the end, the rebuilding of the library will create more room in the library for audio, visual materials and periodicals, provide more space for community meetings and for patrons to have more room.

Even though there will be more space for the patrons of the library, the mayor said he wants to keep a warm feeling in the library, similar to the one it has now.

As for what it will look like, “We might tend to keep the colonial style that the building has now,” Ellis said adding “We would like to keep the cozy feeling, but, we will wait and see, based on what the architect can do. We will incorporate ‘going green’ as much as possible.”

Rebuilding the library will require lots of effort on the part of the staff and Friends of the Library, because books, DVDs, CDs and reference material will need to be removed from the shelves.

Mayor Ellis pointed out the Watchung Library is involved in the Friends of the Library network, made up of neighboring libraries which work together on community projects. “This is a good opportunity for the town people,” Ellis said. “Friends of the Library work together in regard to helping with shelving, furniture and many other projects, we are happy to be part of the system.”

Posted by tumulty at January 7, 2010 6:29 PM

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