We are closing in on the architect’s submittal date for Construction Documents, due to the City on April 10th. The City will review the submittal, and the documents will go to City Council for approval on May 5. The General Construction contract will go out to bid soon after, and we hope to have a successful bidding process, with the recommendation for a General Contractor to go back to Council for approval on June 22. After that, groundbreaking!
In the meantime,
though, there are many choices to finalize. If you have ever done a home
renovation project, you know what this is like—finishes, hardware, flooring,
furnishings, colors, and more. The selections have been made very
collaboratively by the library staff Core Design Team; we hope to have a sample
board of finishes, colors and textiles by the next Library Board meeting in
May.
We are also preparing for our move to our temporary location
at City Hall. Our interim library will be opening on June 1, just in time for
Summer Reading, which always starts off with a bang. Our children’s library
staff will be working the majority of their hours on the bookmobile, which will
be traveling to 5 city parks each week over the summer. Our adult services
staff will be providing reference service at City Hall for 55 hours a week, compared
to 58 hours a week at the regular library site. In addition they will be
providing library outreach to our regular library partners, retooling the
library’s website, developing user resource guides and building a new opening
day collection with new library materials.
The Friends of the Library are planning a “last party in the
existing building” event on Thursday, May 21 from 5-7pm. Everyone is invited—town,
gown, City Staff and esteemed Board, Council and Committee members. Please save
the date; there will be food and entertainment, and, weather permitting,
outdoor activities.
The Friends and Foundation, along with the library staff,
are also planning on holding a live auction after the library closes and after
the collection and furnishings that will be reused is placed into storage. This
will take place at the end of June, just before groundbreaking. This will be a chance for our library patrons to own a piece of
Northfield Public Library history!