FSPL Building Project Updates

by Patty Zabel

It's getting down to the wire on the building project. The rain interrupted the roofing last week, but they're back on track now and have a portion of it finished. Things inside are looking pretty good. The lighting has been installed and you can really see for the first time! The terrazzo floor is being polished and it looks beautiful. They are also working on the millwork—all the public service areas will have custom made help desks and carrels. The wood is cherry and adds a real warmth to the interior. We're looking forward to having the furniture delivered in December. The shelving arrives the first week of December so we'll close the downtown library building on December 8 and begin moving books. We expect it to take about six weeks to move all the materials from the old library to the new. We hope to open in mid- to late-January. Meanwhile the branches will be open their usual hours and all library materials should be returned to one of the branches.

by Patty Zabel

Only twelve weeks left! The building is looking great. Most of the brick work outside is finished, and once the standing seam metal roof goes up (at the end of this week) and the glass windows are installed, the outside will look much more finished. The brick arch will be one of the last items finished. Inside most of the walls are up and some are even painted. They should begin laying the terrazzo floor this week or next which will block off a large portion of the middle of the building for a while. The interior designer signed off on the fabric finishes last week so we got to see samples of what the furniture will look like-they're all gorgeous. Anybody who's curious can stop by the library office and sneak a peek.

by Patty Zabel

There are big changes if you haven't seen the library's new building lately. Brick is going up and interior walls have been sheetrocked and, in some cases, painted. The metal frame of the central staircase arrived in several pieces; workers are already putting it together. In another six to eight weeks they will be putting on the metal roof.

by Patty Zabel

Branch Buildings
We've got two down and one to go—branches that is. I hope you've been able to visit either the Dallas Street Branch or the Windsor Drive Branch to see for yourself how great they turned out! The reports we're getting from patrons are all positive. March was the first full month for the Dallas Branch to be open and they checked out over 10,000 books!

The last branch, the Miller Branch, opens on April 29th. Join us for the festivities. The schedule is:

8:30 Help us pass the last book from the old branch to the new branch
10:30 Author Patrick Davis
12:00 Camarada Ensemble
1:00 Reception, featuring The River Blenders
2:00 Toucan Jam, a musical world tour for kids

There will also be face painting and hat making for kids all afternoon.

The new Miller branch will be open from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, from 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. on Tuesday and from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Saturday. The branch is located at 8701 South 28th Street just a few blocks from the Market Trace Branch which it is replacing.

The new branch is named in honor of a local family who have been long-time supporters of the Fort Smith Public Library.

Main Building Report
The building is really moving along. The floors are all poured and the interior walls will go up this week on the first floor. If you've driven by, you've probably noticed the decking going up on the roof. They'll be working on that for a while—there's a lot of roof to cover!

by Patty Zabel

The Fort Smith Public Library's Board of Trustees decided to give the branches the following names: the branch on the east is now the Dallas Street Branch; the branch on the north is the Windsor Drive Branch; and the branch on the south is the Market Trace Branch.

The Dallas St. Branch is getting very close to being finished. Furniture is being delivered in the next few weeks. Although there are still items to be completed, such as the millwork (desks, cabinets, etc.), the staff is working on setting up the books. It will be a much larger collection than they were able to have at the Stonewood Village Branch. The opening date will be mid-February. The Grand Opening is scheduled for Saturday, February 26th. We'll have day-long activities for children and adults. We hope you will be able to join us.

The Windsor Drive Branch is not far behind the Dallas Branch. Look for it to open in March. Naturally the Market Trace Branch is much farther behind, but looks to be on schedule.

Work on the Main Library building is proceeding according to schedule. The steel frame is going up this week. As we learned from the branch buildings, once that steel goes up, things really start moving. We'll be looking at the interior designer's ideas for the new building in February.

by Patty Zabel

The branch buildings are getting close to being finished. The shelving is going up next week on the Eastside branch. We're planning a ceremony to move the first book from the Stonewood Village Branch to the new one on Monday, December 27th at 2:00. We're going to line up people along 74th Street and Dallas and pass the book to the new branch. If you'd like to participate, give us a call at 783-0229. We need at least 140 people. After we pass that first book we'll begin moving in earnest.

The furniture and millwork will begin arriving in January. We hope to actually open in February.

The other branches are about a month behind so look for the Northside branch to open in March and the Southside branch in April.

The main library is moving right along. The floor is being poured this week. The steel frame should go up in January. Hopefully the city will start work on 31st Street sometime in February.

Things are right on schedule for the new branch buildings. They have been working on the front stonework at the Eastside Branch this week. They're ready to begin working on the outside arch. The stone is beautiful and much larger than we anticipated — stunning is the word I'm looking for!

All the outside work on the Eastside is complete except for the arch and the reading nooks. The electricians will begin pulling wire inside this week. The Northside building is close behind. The Southside Branch should be catching up pretty quickly.

The grading on the Main Library site is finished and they will be laying out the outline and will start working on the foundation by October 1st. It will really be exciting to see the shape of the building. They moved the building forward and shifted it over five feet in order to save six of the trees. It was pretty shocking to see so many trees come down, but it's great to know that they are tree-conscience. Once we get the building on the site it will be pretty evident why they had to take so many trees.

If you want to see photos of the library buildings as they progress, you can visit our web site at http://www.fspl.lib.ar.us.

Building Project Update #4
July 22, 1999

If you're interested in seeing the progress that is being made on the library building project, we will be scanning in construction photos and posting them on our web site on a regular basis.

You can get to the construction photos from the library's main page (http://www.fspl.lib.ar.us), or go directly to the Main Library photos (http://www.fspl.lib.ar.us/mainlib.html), Eastside photos (http://www.fspl.lib.ar.us/eastside.html), Northside photos (http://www.fspl.lib.ar.us/northside.html) or Southside photos (http://www.fspl.lib.ar.us/southside.html).

Note: Because of the high number of photos on the construction pages, it may take a while for the pages to load in your browser (especially if you have a slow modem).

Feel free to drive by the branches so you can see in person how they are progressing!

Branch Libraries
The construction of the branch libraries continues to go at a fast pace. They are beginning to put on the roof at the eastside branch, and the northside and southside branches are not far behind. We estimate that the branches will be completed in the early part of 2000.

Main Library
The second round of bids for the main library was opened on June 10th. Van Horn Construction of Russellville provided the lowest bid, and the City Council approved the contract with Van Horn on June 16th. Construction on the main library is expected to begin sometime in July, with completion by December of 2000.

Construction Around the Current Main Library
As you may already know, construction of the Civic Center has made it a challenge to get to the main library branch. Most of South 8th Street has now been closed, and you can no longer get to the library from Wheeler Avenue.

The only way to get to the main library is to come down Carnall (take a left off Rogers at the Times Record Building) or come down 9th street and turn right on Carnall. Go just past the "Library Access" sign and you will be able to get into the library's parking lot. Additional parking is located across what used to be Wheeler, in City Lot B.

Building Project Update #2
March 2, 1999

BRANCH LIBRARY UPDATE
The groundbreaking celebrations for the three branch libraries were held on January 16th. The weather was beautiful and lots of people came out to watch the ceremonial throwing of dirt. Beshears Construction started preparing the branch sites for construction in late January, and things are progressing quite nicely. If you drive by any of the branch sites, you’re likely to see lots of activity taking place!

MAIN LIBRARY GROUNDBREAKING SCHEDULED
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Main Library will be held on March 27th at 11:00 am. Refreshments will be served in a tent at the site following the ceremony. All are welcome to attend!

LIBRARY BOARD MEETS WITH INTERIOR DESIGNER
The Library Board met yesterday with Sonia Prickett, the interior designer from Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle, to go over the color schemes and furniture plans for the branch libraries.

BUILDING PLANS ON DISPLAY AT MAIN LIBRARY
If you haven’t already seen them, plans for the new main library and the neighborhood branches are on display on the First Floor of the Main Library, near the New Books Display. We are pretty excited and pleased about how the plans have turned out, and we hope you will be too.

Building Project Update #1
December 28, 1998

Well, as many of you who frequent the main branch of the Fort Smith Public Library have noticed, there has been a lot of activity around here lately. The Town Club is almost completely gone (the front door is the only part still standing), and they are tearing down the old Guardtronics building as I write this. The parking situation has become a bit challenging, but we are still very much open. And we’re keeping pretty busy at the library, planning the groundbreaking ceremonies and putting the final touches on the building plans.

BRANCH BIDS WILL BE OPENED TUES., JAN. 5
The bidding contracts on the neighborhood branches were scheduled to be opened December 23rd, but the icy weather prevented it. The opening of the branch bids has been rescheduled for 2:00pm on January 5th. The bids will be opened at the City Offices, and anyone who is interested is welcome to attend.

BRANCH GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY WILL BE HELD SAT., JAN. 16
The groundbreaking ceremonies for the library’s three neighborhood branches will be held on Saturday, January 16, 1998.

The Northside Branch ceremonies will be at 1:00pm at the corner of 47th and Windsor. The Eastside Branch ceremonies will be at 2:00pm at the corner of Dallas St. and Massard Rd. The Southside Branch ceremonies will be at 3:00pm at Market Trace and 28th Street.

There will be a reception at the Main Library at 4:00pm, following the ceremonies. Everyone is welcome to attend!

MAIN LIBRARY UPDATE
The bids for the Main Library are scheduled to be opened in February, and we plan to hold the groundbreaking sometime in March. We will send further updates as the time draws near.

BUILDING PLANS ON DISPLAY AT MAIN LIBRARY
If you haven’t already seen them, plans for the new main library and the neighborhood branches are on display on the First Floor of the Main Library, near the New Books Display. We are pretty excited and pleased about how the plans have turned out, and we hope you will be too.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year! We hope to see you at the groundbreaking.