While toddlers tapped sticks and shook shakers Wednesday during the Wee Babies program at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library on Seventh Street North, a local homeschool group was holding its weekly meeting just across the children’s area. At the same, a CPR specialist held a class in the teen section of the library.
It is a typical scene for a busy morning of programming at the Columbus location, Director Erin Busbea told the Rotary Club of Columbus on Tuesday. Since she started working at the library in 2008, Busbea said she has seen the system grow exponentially.
“Our main goal is to serve as a primary hub for education, innovation and community engagement,” she said during the club’s meeting at Lion Hills Center.
The library system, which is funded by a combination of county, city and State Aid funds, consists of four locations located in Columbus, Caledonia, Artesia and Crawford. Busbea said a strategic plan is in the works to guide the next five years of growth for the system.
The library will begin hosting focus groups in March to help inform the plan, which could include possibly expanding into New Hope.
“I’ve always felt like we’re kind of missing a spot in the New Hope community because it is such a large community,” she said. “Five years down the road, 10 years down the road, what does that look like? Can we say with confidence that we might want to explore putting in a small library out here or how can we partner with the community center out here as well?”
Busbea said groups will also explore whether relocating the Crawford library might serve the community better. The library’s current location on Main Street does not receive a lot of foot traffic, she said.
“We don’t need a large space for (that library),” she said. “We need to have a small collection of books, but we need the computers out there and the Wi-Fi, and we need to be where the people can get to it. We’re going to have a focus group out there to see, what does this community want?”
Another part of the plan is to continue expanding digital equity and technology access, Busbea said.
“We’ve recently done some network upgrades to our infrastructure to make sure that we have a very stable network that people can rely on when they come to the library,” she said. “We’re also looking at facility improvements, updating our spaces so that they are more accessible for people to use.”
The downtown Columbus branch has made several updates to its facilities in recent years, Busbea said, including adding new flooring in various areas and replacing the circulation desk that was original to the 52-year-old building. Parts are on the way for an HVAC renovation in the local history room, which requires special airflow, and the building’s elevator is receiving new paint and wallpaper, she said.
Right now, there really aren’t any other pressing needs, Busbea told The Dispatch.
“That hasn’t always been the case, but we’ve been very fortunate when issues come up with the city or the county helping us,” she said. “Right now (funding) is good, but if we’re looking to expand into New Hope, then obviously we’re going to need to have those conversations with the city and county about what that would look like.”
Melissa Duncan Thomas, community engagement coordinator for the library system, said the strategic plan includes growing current programming by partnering with local businesses and organizations. The goal is to bring in the community to run programs, she said.
“We’re hopefully going to have a day where we do a skill share,” she said. “So if anybody has a particular skill that they’re really good at … I would like to bring people in and be able to have that skill shared with people … who would like to learn them.”
Thomas said her hope is to establish a base of volunteers who are willing to periodically teach a program they are interested in.
“I think that would overall get everybody a lot more excited about being a part of the community and learning and growing with each other,” she said.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
