43
Jackson Milton Library to boast flexibility
LAKE MILTON
The new Jackson-Milton public library branch will combine an emphasis on access to technology and flexible use of space with staffing efficiency, library officials say.
The building also will occupy a scenic natural setting overlooking a wetlands area and a small ravine.
“Technology access will be a notable feature,” said Carlton Sears, director of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
The new library will feature six public desktop-computer stations with electrical outlets and work stations for laptop computer users throughout the 5,228-square-foot, one- story library, Sears said.
“There’s going to be more of an appreciation and honoring of what’s happening with technology trends, certainly, than there was 30 years ago,” but there also will be about 18,000 volumes of books, Sears said.
Sears said he hopes groundbreaking for the $1.4 million project can occur next March, with the new building opening in the fall of 2012 after 32 weeks of construction.
The new branch will be built on school-donated land at the east end of the Jackson-Milton High School and Middle School complex along Mahoning Avenue just west of Duck Creek Road in Milton Township.
The wetlands and ravine, which contain an intermittent stream, will “create just a wonderful visual backdrop for the patrons and a very pastoral setting,” said Ronald Cornell Faniro, project architect. Faniro said he hopes the library will have large windows overlooking the wetlands and ravine.
The new branch, which Sears hopes can be open six days a week, will replace the existing North Jackson and Lake Milton branches, which each are open only three days a week.
Based on comments from area residents in four community meetings, library officials have developed a set of requirements for Faniro Architects Inc. of Youngstown to use in making drawings of the building.
Those drawings will be presented in a forthcoming community meeting to verify their accuracy in conveying the wishes of area residents, Sears said.
“This is going to be pretty much a large open area that’s defined by the furnishings and equipment, as opposed to the walls,” Sears said of the new library.
“I envision a building right now that’s very open, that’s very user-friendly,” and attractive to everyone from young children to senior citizens, Faniro said.
A children’s area will be on one side of the building, with the adult area on the other side. A teen alcove and a glass-walled study room for six to eight people will be adjacent to the adult area.
All stacks will be directly accessible to patrons, and the juvenile and adult areas will feature separate outdoor reading areas in addition to their indoor space.
A central reading area can be partitioned into an activity and meeting room when needed for gatherings of 15 to 25 people.
“The concept is for that to be flexible,” Sears said. “Space is precious. It’s costly. We want to be able to have a place where people can gather” without disturbing the rest of the library, he added.
“It’ll probably be a combination of fixed-glass partitions and some kind of moveable element,” Faniro said of the central reading and meeting area.
To achieve operating efficiency, staff will serve patrons and have a complete view of all parts of the library from a single, central service desk that will be adjacent to a staff workroom and loading dock. The new library could be open with as few as two staff members on duty, Sears said.
“When there’s one service point, I think it’s easier for the patrons to find what they need and to seek help when they need it,” Faniro observed.
Patrons will return books and other library materials through indoor and outdoor wall slots from which the returned items will drop directly into bins in the staff workroom, eliminating the need for staff to fetch materials from freestanding outdoor return bins.
The library will have high-efficiency furnaces and energy-efficient windows and lighting, and it will make maximum use of natural light, Faniro said.
Faniro also designed the new Jackson Township Administration Building and the Newport public library branch in Youngstown.