Rock Island, IL: The Rock Island Public Library is planning ahead for future library needs and it wants your input. The library will host open community forums with veteran library planner George Lawson on Monday, Nov. 24 and Tuesday, Nov. 25.
The forums will be held at 6:30 pm on Nov. 24 and at 2:00 pm on Nov. 25 at the Rock Island Main Library downtown, 401 19th Street. Ample free parking is available in the library lot, just off 4th Avenue and 20th Street. The open focus group forums will allow the public to share their ideas for future library services and facilities.
"Providing comfortable, responsive spaces that meet current and emerging patron needs is part of our four-year strategic plan," said Angela Campbell, Rock Island Public Library Director. The sessions are designed to provide the library's planning team with information on community needs for library spaces and services.
Lawson is an Ames, Iowa based library space needs consultant with 39 years of library experience. He focuses on building, strategic and operational planning, and has consulted on more than 400 library building projects, including studies for Moline, East Moline, River Valley Library District (Port Byron,) and Clinton Public Libraries.
The Rock Island Public Library board of trustees engaged the team of Gere Dismer Architects, George Lawson Library Planning, KJWW Engineering Consultants and Missman Civil Engineers to create a Library Master Plan Study that will include a facility assessment of all three branches and planning recommendations for each. Since Oct. 15, the study team has been working on a library needs assessment, which includes touring the three library locations, observing operations, interviewing staff, and reviewing worksheets.
Once the needs assessment portion of the study is completed, the team will develop recommendations and a final report, which could include recommendations for building, space utilization, conceptual design, engineering needs, site planning, and cost estimates.
Buildings included in the study are the Rock Island Main Library, 401 19th Street, 30/31 Branch, 3059 30th Street, and the Southwest Branch, 9010 Ridgewood Road.
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