By BECKY THOMAS
Staff Reporter
The Cheney branch of the Spokane County Library District has a lot going on lately.
Not only does the library at 610 First St. have a new manager — former Airway Height branch manager Pat Davis — and summer reading programs starting soon, but library district leaders have begun planning in earnest for a new, larger library to be built in Cheney sometime between 2015 and 2020.
Patrick Roewe, branch services manager for SCLD, spoke to the Cheney City Council June 14, where he told city leaders that local library use was up overall, but that “we're maxed out on space.”
According to a facilities plan put out by the district last year, a new library is recommended for Cheney in Phase 2 of the 20-year plan. The planned building would double the size of the current 6,600 square foot library and cost $4.9 million in 2010 dollars (the cost does not include a land purchase).
Roewe said a bond requiring district-wide voter approval would fund the Cheney construction, along with a dozen other projects at other libraries in the district. The total cost of all the construction was estimated at $50.8 million. He said the measure would not be on the ballot before 2013.
Roewe said the plans were based on anticipated population growth, and told the council that the new Cheney branch would become a sub-resource library for the surrounding area, second to resource libraries in North Spokane and Spokane Valley. He acknowledged strong local attachments to the Cheney library, which was located in a city-owned building with a push from residents, but said that most people who attended an informational meeting on the plans expressed support.
Roewe said Cheney was one of the strongest communities in the county in terms of voter support for the library district.
“They've always been great library supporters and we really value that,” he said.
New Cheney branch manager, Davis, echoed Roewe's statements last week Friday, her first official day on the job. Davis replaced former manager Rachel Evans, who moved to New York City with her husband.
“Cheney is recognized throughout the district as being a very library-supportive community and that's always wonderful,” Davis said. “It's great to work with a community that supports the library and uses it.”
Davis comes to Cheney in the midst of a 20-plus-year career with SCLD. She started as a substitute, then a full-time employee in circulation and information services at the Spokane Valley branch. She moved to the Airway Heights branch when the manager position opened up.
“It was the next logical step in my career,” she said. “It was an interesting transition when I came out to Airway Heights. Spokane Valley is the largest of the county branches and Airway Heights is one of the smaller branches.”
Despite the different atmosphere, Davis said she enjoyed getting to know the regular customers at the Airway Heights library, but decided to move laterally to the Cheney branch when she heard of Evans' departure.
“I plan to be here for quite some time,” she said.
Davis said she's looking forward to coordinating this year's summer reading program—the theme is “One World, Many Stories” and kicks off with a lesson on knights with “Get Medieval at the Library” this Friday at 10 a.m.
“There's a lot of good programming,” Davis said. “We're hoping a lot of people will join this year.”
The full schedule of programs and hours at the Cheney library is available at >ww.scld.org.
Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)