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Temporary Library Location Announced - April 12, 2005
The Leominster Public Library Board of Trustees and the
Library Building Committee announced that an agreement for
temporary quarters for the library has been reached. The
library will move to Crossroads Office Park, 690 Mechanic
Street, where it will lease approximately 11,000 square
feet. It is expected that the library will relocate there
for an estimated 18 months while the construction,
renovation, and expansion of the existing facility is
underway.
The temporary location was chosen using a formal Request for
Proposal process, which began in October 2004. As a result
of this process, the Board of Trustees received six
proposals. A sub-committee of the Board of Trustees
conducted site visits to all six locations. Proposals were
evaluated based on suitability of code, zoning, specific
requirements for library services, and ultimately cost. Four
proposals were initially eliminated because the locations
were not permitted for use as a public library by Leominster
Zoning Ordinances. The remaining two proposals were reviewed
primarily for the total costs associated with both build-out
and rent.
Due to minimal build-out requirements, and a square foot
lease which is substantially lower than current market rate,
Crossroads Office Park was selected as the most financially
affordable location. The build-out was minimal due to prior
permitting for public assembly uses.
The current library facility will close to the public
beginning Monday, May 2nd. It will reopen at the temporary
location at 9:00 a.m. Monday, May 16th for regular hours of
library hours of service.
In planning its move and closing, the library had made every
attempt possible to minimize inconvenience to the public. To
accomplish this, the library will close access to its
materials collection in phases. Older areas of its
collection will become unavailable to the public beginning
the week of April 4th. Portions of all service areas within
the library will remain open to the public until the actual
closing of the building. New books, daily newspapers,
current magazines, books-on-tape and CD, videos, DVDs,
compact discs, public Internet computers, library programs,
and information services will remain available until the day
the library closes to the public on Monday, May 2nd.
This phased in approach will allow for the packing of
materials that will be put into long-term storage during the
time the library is in the temporary location. Since the
library will be operating in approximately 50% of the space
of the current facility, a large portion of the library’s
older collection will be stored. While at the temporary
location, the library will be able to borrow virtually
anything a patron requests from other libraries within the
state.
The temporary location will enable the library to maintain
separate adult, children’s and young adult areas, as well as
house all popular print and non-print materials, a portion
of its older collection, make available public Internet
computers, and continue library programs.
The library anticipates bidding the construction of the
expanded and renovated public library on April 12th in the
Central Register. Based on this invitation to bid, the
deadline for filed sub-bids will be May 17th, and the
deadline for the general contract will be June 2nd. The
library will look forward to a public groundbreaking
ceremony in mid to late June.
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