Edmonson County Public Library Announces Renovation
In addition to casting votes, library regulars and residents of Edmonson County were encouraged to place a dot as to where they lived in the county. Here, Raymond Durbin is helping Tammy Sanders find her home on the county map. PHOTO | Chris Cole
By Chris Cole
Jobe Publishing Inc.
On Monday, April 14, the Edmonson County Public Library held an open house to announce the renovation of their space. With the number of programs that are run out of the library, including those for both adolescents and seniors, a renovation is overdue but very welcome.
“What prompted it is we have an amazing group of parents that bring their kids here for story time and I realized really quick the small children’s area we have up front was not gonna accommodate the amount of kids that are coming in and out of our library,” said Alicia Edwards, director for the Edmonson County Public Library. “To use the space, the whole area, in the best way possible will make sure that our children have a safe area that’s off to its own. It will also give the adults a more quiet area because, right now, everything is out in the open.”
ECPL Director Alicia Edwards’ warm smile and friendly demeanor not only greeted guests to the library’s open house on Monday, April 14, she also encouraged everyone who stopped in, even if briefly, to voice their thoughts on what they want the library to be. The ideas will then be taken to the architectural firm Brandstetter Carroll, and she is targeting this summer for the work to begin. PHOTO | Chris Cole
Along with having an dedicated area for kids inside, Edwards said there would be a dedicated children’s area outside as well.
With the announcement of this renovation, Edwards is hoping that it will lead to an expansion of the library later on.
“We have had grants, KDLA (Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives) has construction grants but there’s not any available to us (right now). So if that was ever to happen again, where the grants become available again, we would look into expanding. The children’s area is still gonna be pretty small. We have forty to fifty people at story time and a little children’s area is not gonna accommodate that,” she said.
The renovation that the library will be undergoing, however, is being paid for out of reserve funds from their savings.
As part of the open house, the community was invited to vote by placing “Monopoly Money” into some boxes that had various ideas being presented for what they’d like to see come into the library.
Evie is casting her “Monopoly Money” vote for what she’d like to see at the Edmonson County Public Library along with Ezekiel, Elias and Ezra. Their mother, Sarah, asked that their last names not be used. This was part of what ECPL Director Alicia Edwards wanted in getting community input for the renovations being undertaken. PHOTO | Chris Cole
“We really want our community to have a voice in this renovation. We want it to be exactly what they want it to be,” said Edwards. Some of the ideas presented to the community to vote on using the “money” they were given was a maker’s space that would have 3D printing and poster printing available, group seating for teens, desks that are adjacent to safe play spaces for parents with infants and perhaps Lego stations for kids to explore creativity.
While the renovation was just announced, plans for it had been in the works for several months. The architectural group hired to undertake the renovation is Brandstetter Carroll, which has an office located in Lexington. Courtney Keilman, an interior designer with Brandstetter Carroll, was on hand to answer questions that the community members might have.
“One of my bosses, Monica Sumner, was contacted seven or eight months ago,” said Keilman.
She then explained that “We’ll come, once we get contacted, see the library, look at the space and talk through what are their goals. Like, what do they want to accomplish in terms of programming, spaces that they need and then we go from there and ask, ‘how can we use this space so that it’s used to the best of its ability?’”
Some stats on just how busy the Edmonson County Public Library is. Several programs serving over 9000 people are run out of the library each year. Last year, the library was used by over 50,000 people. Also included was a chart on what and where the renovations would take place. PHOTO | Chris Cole
As Brandstetter Carroll has a construction element to their architectural firm as well, Keilman said that what will be done is they’ll be checking in on the project every couple of weeks to make sure things are on track and disruptions to the day in, day out activities of the library are minimal.
Edwards stated that, “we hope to have the renovations done by this time next year. We hope to get started here during the summer.”
