Port Huron library seeks ideas

Celebrating 100 years

Jackie Smith
Times Herald
View Comments

Officials are contemplating fixes for building needs at the St. Clair County Library System’s main branch in downtown Port Huron that could range from renovation to replacement.

But before they move in any direction, they want to know what patrons want.

Library Director Allison Arnold said the main building, 210 McMorran Blvd., which dates back to the 1960s, may have outlived its usefulness for library activities and regular operations without repairs or relocating. It’s not completely handicapped accessible; certain things, such as no fire suppression system, aren’t up to code; and it lacks the technologies of modern libraries.

A committee was formed of library board members, administrators and county commissioners to discuss the issue. Arnold addressed the county board on Thursday.

“We have a tendency to have those circular conversations. ‘Well, if we had the money, where would we go? If we would go here, where would we get the money? Who would own the building? How would the building be maintained?’ All of that,” Arnold said. “All those conversations, when we really at this point are still just wondering and wanting to know what people (want to) see. As a building, I think the community deserves better than good enough.”

If they opt for a new building, she said a replacement risks being less accessible for some residents. She said it would be best to stay downtown — and be a part of redevelopment that is already happening.

“We should be a big part of that renaissance. We are part of that place-making. We are core (to that) walkability,” Arnold said.

Longtime Port Huron resident John Clawson said he visits the Port Huron library two to three times a week, but he didn't think the building could use any improvements.

“I’ve never been disappointed in any way shape or form, and get along very nicely with everybody,” he said late Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, patrons were a bit more specific. “I’m all for expansion of the library in any way,” said Gary Wickmiller, also of Port Huron.

Mark Hutchinson, of Marysville, visited the main branch Saturday with his daughter and indicated some improvements might be beneficial.

“If you go to libraries in other counties, you can really see the difference,” he said. “They do the best with what they have, I don’t mean to sound critical.”

Librarian David Smith said he would like to see a new building.

“We find ourselves at capacity. Well, on all three floors as far as adding,” he said. “We’ve done what we could with space that’s allotted to us, but we can’t expand (in) really any departments. Although I think we’d like to.”

County Commissioner Bill Gratopp, who sits on the committee, said, “Nothing’s on the table, nothing’s off the table” as far as options.

Arnold said the committee would like to take a recommendation to the library board mid-year.

In the meantime, she said she plans to visit plenty of philanthropic organizations to share information, and she encouraged residents to reach out with their preferences. She added previous public forums didn’t attract more than a handful of attendees.

If they stay at 210 McMorran Blvd., Arnold said, floor-to-ceiling heights, for example, would have to be reduced. And that means reducing the height of the stacks and potentially available collections.

The elevator, too, is not openly accessible to the public and is as old as the building itself.

A new library, Arnold said, could be more open, could allow staff to monitor more areas at once for safety purposes and could allow more activities.

“There are things that libraries are becoming for their communities that we struggle to be able to provide,” she said. “One of the things is a place where people can create. Whether that’s being able to write and publish, whether that’s having audio-visual equipment available so that people and kids can come in and do projects, whether that’s space for small businesses to come in and develop plans, utilize the resources to find marketing opportunities. And just quiet space for people to be in.”

But a new library would cost more money — likely in the tens of millions. Arnold said if that’s necessary, it depends on the public as well as what future needs officials believe they should anticipate.

She added, “It’s not fair to put a price tag on something for the community when they haven’t had the opportunity to say what they really think they want to see in their library.”

Those interested in sharing thoughts on the Port Huron library branch’s needs can contact Arnold at (810) 987-7323, 210 McMorran Blvd., or aarnold@sccl.lib.mi.us.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith. Photographer Jeffrey Smith contributed to this report. 

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS

  • The St. Clair County Library System is celebrating 100 years. Director Allison Arnold said it is planning a series of speakers, including “The Art of Racing in the Rain” author Garth Stein from 6:30 to 9 p.m. April 12 at the Blue Water Convention Center and author and world-renowned autism spokeswoman Temple Grandin at 7 p.m. May 3 at the East China Performing Arts Center.
  • Arnold said other appearances, as well as a celebration next September, are still in the works. For more information or to register for the scheduled events, call (810) 987-7323. The system’s other branches will also host individual events for the anniversary.

View Comments
https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/local/port-huron/2017/03/19/library-looking-input-future-port-huron-location/99303150/
www.thetimesherald.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2021-25
144058
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:AHI2XW55OMIHQHKYLE26VDV6LAYORWPI
<urn:uuid:c14c04df-9304-4c0a-9865-52beab7090ed>
2021-06-15T00:24:31Z
151.101.202.62
text/html
sha1:KXU765UD5ZG6IHTEL7G7MCFTIIQUZLWD
<urn:uuid:792291a7-9687-4702-b816-09985b1be3e5>
https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/local/port-huron/2017/03/19/library-looking-input-future-port-huron-location/99303150/
response
<urn:uuid:a7e3abfa-25c1-4a6f-8242-ebfb0aa527d0>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2021-25
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for June 2021
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-229.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/