Answers to Staff Questions - Denmark Library

Submitted by Leslie Marinelli

Continuing on with more answers to staff questions, this is part 5 of the You Ask, We Answer blog post from earlier this month. So far we've covered programming cutbacks, staff shirts, online paycheck and leave balances, the Library Limelight selection process, and two software-related suggestions. 

Today Deputy Director Steve Kight answers two staff questions about the Denmark Library:

After seeing the suggestion to provide an update to staff on the Denmark Library project I realize it’s been a few months since we’ve done so. We are making great progress working on the design with the selected architectural firm, McMillan Pazdan Smith. We had our fourth schematic design meeting last week and the architects have done an outstanding job incorporating our feedback to make Denmark a welcoming space that complements the beautiful property surrounding it. Some of you may remember that there is a line of oak trees on the property. We recently met with the County Arborist and were told that the trees appear to be healthy and should live for another 15-20 years. That’s great news, as these will be an attractive feature.

Line of oak trees on property where we are building the Denmark Library. 

One aspect of the process that is more complex than other branches we have built (or expanded) is determining the best placement on the lot for the building. This is due to the fact that we have much more land to work with than we ever have before, 9.5 acres, so building placement is not as obvious as it has been for other sites.  

Because the building will be smaller than we had originally planned—we are currently planning for approximately 23,500 square feet, which is between the sizes of Hampton Park (22,858 square feet) and Post Road (24,580 square feet)—we have adjusted the size of the collection accordingly. We are anticipating a total collection size of approximately 75,000 items. For comparison, HP has 80,580 items and Post Road has 96,963 items. There are three items of particular note about the Denmark collection:

• We will be prioritizing print youth collections, with the number of items in the Easy, Juvenile, and Teen collection at Denmark similar to the number of items in those collections at Post Road. We will have a smaller print adult collection, especially in nonfiction. It will be a robust enough collection for most patrons to find what they are looking for, but we recognize that adult nonfiction tends to be a collection where patrons are more likely to search the catalog (and place a hold if the item they want is not available) than browse the shelves.
  
  
• Denmark will not have any physical audiovisual materials, except for Easy Read-Alongs. These materials (including books on CD, music CDs, and DVDs), have shown a steady decline in circulation over the past several years and we anticipate that the decline will grow even faster in the next few years, as fewer cars have CD players. We are pleased that so many of our patrons who previously used physical audiovisual materials are now using our eLibrary.
  
  
• We plan to have what would might be thought of as a medium-sized World Languages collection, with about 3-4 languages represented when we open. For comparison, Cumming, Hampton Park, and Post Road each currently has one language (Spanish) and Sharon Forks has six languages (Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu), with a seventh (Spanish) ordered and soon to arrive. We will continue to do research on the best languages to open with, but the three mentioned most frequently in the recent survey (Hindi, Spanish, and Telugu) appear to be likely choices.
  

MPS will be making a presentation at the Library Board meeting on February 14. The Board will have their first look at the design so far and will provide their feedback. We will then share the design with staff. We know you’re eager to see the progress and we look forward to sharing it with you.

Another staff question we received is “Will the new library have a better design for staff to social distance?” We’re designing the building during the COVID pandemic, so we’re certainly cognizant of the need for social distancing, but we have to remember that the budget will only allow for a certain size building. As we begin to plan furniture design and placement, especially in the staff areas, we will discuss these issues more. We will also explore the best approaches to ventilation in the HVAC system, and don’t forget that we’re planning to provide outdoor options that both patrons and staff will be able to enjoy.