BonnerSprings.com

Photo by Nicole Kelley

Construction workers with Topeka-based Altmar, Inc., General Contractors, work on putting up a supporting beam Tuesday morning at the site of Bonner Springs' new city library, 216 Allcutt. The workers completed pouring the concrete floor of the main level over the weekend and have now begun preparations for constructing the building's walls.

Progress is being made at the construction site of Bonner Springs' soon-to-be new city library location.

The basement walls have been poured as has the concrete floor of the main level, which means walls will begin rising as the library's new, and much larger, location takes shape and nears its completion date.

"I love how excited patrons are. They see the foundations and can't wait to see walls go up," said library director Kim Beets. "It makes us (library staff) feel so good that everyone is excited and has the same dreams we do."

The new library building, which is being constructed at the site of the former Sacred Heart School at 216 Allcutt, will be about 17,000 square feet, more than tripling the library's current location that measures about 5,400 square feet.

The project is still about six months away from completion, but for Public Works project manager Matt Beets, it's just nice to see progress being made. The project is about three or four weeks behind schedule because of rains that kept creeping in during the spring and early summer months. He said crews would wait a few days for the ground to dry and another storm would roll through bringing the ground's moisture levels to a point where work couldn't be done.

"Construction is going well now that the rain has stopped," Matt Beets said. "We're trucking along up there. Now that we got the floor finally poured, it's going to start looking like it's moving along."

In addition to the rains, he said the project hasn't been an easy one. He said the design involved more challenges that involved different construction methods such as open-truss ceilings and rounded walls.

"It's not easy, like putting up a Wal-Mart building," Matt Beets said. "There's a whole lot more to it than concrete walls and a metal roof."

It's those challenges, however, that he said will make the end result even more special. He said there would be "a lot of neat little features" involved in the building's design that patrons will enjoy.

In the children's wing of the building the inside decor will sport a train theme. On the outside along a rounded wall, vertical siding will be used to create the look of an old water barrel that could be found along railroad tracks.

Another feature will be the ceiling of the new meeting room. Big wood beams from the ceiling of the Sacred Heart's old gymnasium were saved and incorporated into the design.

"We just wanted to try to reuse them just because of the material and the quality of the wood," he said. "It was a very pretty ceiling. Everyone who saw them thought it was a shame not to use them."

As construction continues to move along, Matt Beets said he expects the building to be completed by the last week of February 2009 or the first week of March. Library staff will then begin their move, which should allow for a mid-March opening, he said.

For Kim Beets, who has been with the Bonner library for 10 years, this will be her first big collection move. She said the move will be let out to bid because of the size of the project, but she and her staff are already trying to prepare for the amount of organization and work it will take.

She said a book sale in the fall is in the planning stages that will help the library get rid of some of their donated books, lessening the amount that will need to be moved. She's also keeping busy picking out items such as shelving, furniture and computers that will be purchased for the new site.

Most of the excitement about the project comes from the extra space, Kim Beets said, and she has already started thinking of new ways to make good use of it, which will include not only expanding the book collection but also adding more services and programs for the community.

"We've been working on it for a really long time," she said. "We do a really good job serving our community, but we have limitations now because of space issues."

At the new library there will be areas to sit down to relax, read or study. There will be private study rooms for extra quiet, wireless Internet access and space for 30 computers, although all of those may not be in by the time doors open.

The library will also have a Kansas room, which she said would allow the library to "do so much more with our local history." The added space will also allow the library to improve its teen section, which she said is limited right now to a few shelves.

"We do well with really young kids and adults," she said, "but we want to fill in the gaps."

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