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WORTHINGTON — County Administrator Bruce Heitkamp encouraged the Nobles County Library Board to think about what kind of services it would like to offer at the library’s Worthington branch before determining what the building should look like, during a meeting earlier this week.
“I would challenge us all, myself included, to come up with ways to make the (Nobles County Board of Commissioners) be able to embrace what services (we are) trying to collect here,” he said. “And then we’ll think about a building that will get us that level of service.”
He encouraged them to be forward-thinking.
“There’s a willingness, I think, at the (county) board level, to —” he said,
“To do something with this building,” finished Nobles County Commissioner Bob Paplow, who also serves on the Library Board.
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“I think that’s very important — that we know what we want before we start,” said Peg Faber, chairwoman of the Library Board.
Kathy Craun, attending her final meeting as a member of the Library Board, said multiple people and groups collected information relating to what the library should become. That information included a feasibility study investigating space needs, a study from a consultant in Iowa and more recently, an investigation by Library Strategies.
Heitkamp emphasized the importance of specifying what services would be offered before determining what the space needs are — and how to make the most of the existing space.
“We’re on an asbestos floor. That’s going to have to come out,” Heitkamp said. “How do we go about that? Those are things the architects can help with too.”
He said making sure the public is aware of what the Library Board wants to do will be important.
Paplow said the previous assessments were done prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that “changed the world,” and new information is needed.
He also encouraged the Library Board to get the Friends of the Library involved in the process
The Library Board will have a work session to discuss the matter further.
