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Hackley Public Library getting more than $500,000 in improvements

Lynn Moore | lmoore8@mlive.com By Lynn Moore | lmoore8@mlive.com The Muskegon Chronicle
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on April 09, 2013 at 10:03 AM, updated April 09, 2013 at 10:04 AM
hackleylibrary.JPG Muskegon's Hackley Public Library will receive more than $500,000 in renovations to its main and lower floors. Included are new flooring, lighting, painting, plaster work and a new circulation area.  

MUSKEGON, MI – Hackley Public Library is about to embark on a renovation project of its main and lower levels that will include a new circulation desk area.

The Muskegon school board recently approved $565,000 in improvements, which will include replacement of lower-level bathrooms, plaster repair, painting, new floor coverings, technology improvements, new lighting, electrical upgrades and a new lower-level emergency exit.

The work, which comes on the heels of last year’s improvements to the Children’s Department, is funded by the library’s Building of Character fundraising campaign, said Library Director Martha Ferriby. The school board approved bids for the work because the school district owns the library building.

Some library services may be shifted around temporarily before the work is completed in the fall, Ferriby said. It’s possible, but not certain, that the library also will have to close at times, she said.

Among the more urgent repairs are those to the restrooms, which were added in 1932 and have very small toilets, Ferriby said.

“I think they must have gotten a deal on them or maybe they had them in stock,” she said.

Lighting, which Ferriby called “dim at best,” is another critical need, as is the improvement of technology wiring that will speed up the library’s wireless Internet. The main level will get new flooring and plaster repair.

The main floor also will be rearranged, with the technology assistant’s desk moving into the technology room, Ferriby said. To improve flow, the circulation desk will be moved to a spot below the windows overlooking Webster Avenue.

The improvements follow a $100,000 renovation of the upstairs Children’s Department last year and will use up the remaining money in the library’s Building of Character fund, Ferriby said. Fundraising will continue, as the library still has building needs, she said.

Among the needs are a new heating and ventilation system that includes air conditioning, which the library doesn’t currently have. In addition, the children’s department needs a new emergency exit and basement rooms should be updated, Ferriby said.

The library’s genealogy and local history departments have moved across the street to the Torrent House, opening up the basement for group meetings and programming.

Email Lynn Moore at lmoore8@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter: @LynnSMoore
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