What’s Happening with a New Public Library in Albion?
“Frequently Asked Questions”
Updated 8/18/10
The Library Board expects construction to begin in spring of 2011.
The 35,000 square foot facility, constructed in the 1950s, required significant renovations and upgrades, and was larger than necessary for efficient library use. Ongoing maintenance would have been costly. A new roof was estimated to exceed $450,000. A replacement building of 14,600 square feet is planned by the Board of Trustees near the present footprint to avoid covering buried utility lines and other infrastructure.
The project is estimated to cost approximately $3.1 million, however no final decisions on the actual design have been made to date. The Board of Trustees is anticipating the single-story facility will be 14,600 square feet in size, which will effectively double the size of the present library.
The Board is prepared to use grants, proceeds from a community capital campaign, and current library assets in combination with a commercial long term mortgage to cover expenses.
There are a number of grant opportunities available to Swan Library and work is actively being done to investigate the application process and respective timelines.
Earnings from significant bequests from the late Kathryn Billings (1993) and Kenneth Dunkel (2007) have allowed the Board to develop a comprehensive building strategy. The principal of these bequests would be available for use in the acquisition of the site and construction.
Increasing the local tax burden to support new library construction is not a preferred course of action for the Board of Trustees. A variety of alternative funding strategies will be aggressively pursued before any tax increase is presented to area voters.
Although more energy efficient, it’s reasonable to assume operational costs will increase modestly at the new library. The Board of Trustees is also contemplating retaining the present library for potential program use and storage. Therefore some expense will be incurred annually if the library maintains possession.
At present, the Board of Trustees has no plans to sell the current library facility. The 160-year old Burrows’ mansion, which presently houses Swan Library and its collections on four floors, will be retained to allow an orderly transition to the new facility, and potentially provide both storage and programming space in the future.
After initial testing of three building scenarios with 45 community leaders in the fall of 2008, the Board of Trustees received a formal recommendation from a 15-member volunteer advisory committee who recommended the Dale’s Supermarket site in the spring of2009. The group reviewed all proposed building plans in their investigation including financial projections, as well as researched peer libraries in the region to evaluate alternative strategies.
On June 22, 2009, the Board of Trustees was unanimous in their support to extend a formal purchase offer to the Pilon family to secure the Dale’s Supermarket site for a new library.
Talk of expansion or relocating the library dates back to the 1920s, according to Library Director Susan Rudnicky. Beginning in the 1980s however, volunteers became more serious in their efforts to locate a more suitable site for Swan Library because of accessibility and overcrowding issues. Rudnicky estimates that upwards of 40 Albion properties have been considered. Between 2003 and 2008, nine sites were considered both within the immediate downtown area and on Route 31. In evaluating property, site criteria have always included: proximity to the village center, single-floor building plan, parking availability, expansion opportunities, and reasonable cost of acquisition, renovation and/or construction. Following a fall 2008 feasibility study of targeted community leaders, an advisory committee of experienced volunteers was assembled to make a final building recommendation to the Board of Trustees. It was their recommendation based on previously established site criteria and an analysis of neighboring libraries to actively pursue the Dales’ property.
As a public library, Swan Library is open to any user. At present, about 50% of users come from the Village of Albion, with about 90% from within the Albion School District. There are 7,000 card holders.
The Nioga Library System is a non profit cooperative library system that serves three counties in Western New York including Niagara, Orleans, and Genesee counties. Created in 1958 to provide improved informational services to all residents of these counties, the Nioga System today consists of 21 public libraries. Nioga services the information needs of their communities through leadership, education, inspiration, and shared resources.
The library district is chartered by the Education Department of New York State and includes basically all of the Albion School District.