BonnerSprings.com

A long-standing dream will soon come to fruition.

Kim Beets took her job as the Bonner Springs City Library director 10 years ago and within a year, she knew it was time for new digs.

“After one year in the current library, I realized we were really crowded,” Beets said. “And I realized that if I wanted a new library, I should start the process now because I thought it would take 10 years.”

Now, after years of work that included building support, finding a good location and getting a $3.5 million bond issue passed, the dream of a new library in Bonner Springs will, in a little more than a week, become a reality.

The new library is set to open on July 12, and Beets said she and the library staff were on target for that opening. They started moving everything from the current location at 200 E. Third St., into the new location at 201 N. Nettleton on Sunday, June 28, and the newly constructed building is quickly beginning to take shape.

As of Tuesday, June 30, Beets said that half the book collection had been moved in, as well as all the new furniture. All of the steel shelving that, in the current location, held the fiction and non-fiction books, has also been moved in, Beets said, in addition to all the current and new computers — the library will be expanding from 12 public computers to 24. She said by week’s end, 90 percent of everything would be moved into the new library.

As for the moving process, Beets said it had been a successful one, so far, yet a rather dusty and dirty one, as is typical in most moving situations. Beets and the library staff have been working on a daily basis moving everything in, and she noted how surprised she was that the smaller location could have held as much as it did in the first place.

“It’s amazing how much stuff we fit in that little space,” Beets said.

One feature of the new library will be the train-themed children’s area, with a story-time room, with an entrance marked on one side with a train engine and on the other by a large caboose that double’s as a public restroom.

Other features will include two large skylights that bathe the inside of the library in natural light and the Kansas Room, where microfilm, the Kansas Collection and local history and genealogy will be kept. A teen area, with its coffee-shop theme of high top tables, a booth and a defining neon light in the ceiling, begs to be one of the most popular spots for young visitors. The new library will also have a community living room, with comfy seating and a fireplace.

“I think it’s absolutely marvelous,” said library board member John Walker, who on Tuesday dropped by the new location. “I like the kids area, and I love the open skylights. The natural light just makes it as far as I’m concerned.”

Beets said she hoped to get more of the same feedback from the community on opening day — a day she has been looking forward to for years now.

“I’m so excited for everyone to see it,” Beets said. “I’m so excited to see people’s faces as they walk in the door.”

As she scanned the inside of the new library Tuesday afternoon, envisioning how it would look when everything was finally moved in and put in its place, Beets mentioned how real everything was beginning to feel for her. Sketches give you an idea, she said, but nothing compares to actually seeing something physically take shape in front of you. She said the upcoming opening, though many years in the making, had been well worth the wait.

The new library will open at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 12, with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a reading ceremony, where city officials and library staff will each read out loud the first book ever to be read in the new library.

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