League of Women Voters Endorses Project

It's official - after a public forum meeting held at the library on Wed., Oct. 8th, the League of Women Voters for McHenry County publically endorsed the library referendum project in the NW Herald newspaper! That's very exciting.

On Sat., Oct. 11th there was a great front-page article on the value of libraries during our currenet economic crisis to provide both information AND recreation. Then again on Tues., Oct. 14th, there was an informational article on the MPLD referendum - so we are getting some press. The Citizen's Committee has been doing an excellent job of getting out and speaking to the public as has Executive Director, Jim Scholtz. Jim has also been fielding telephone calls. Today (Oct. 14th), Jim spoke to the NW Herald editorial board who will make known their views on the referendum issue in upcoming issues. Please remember, Jim is more than happy to take your calls and discuss the referendum but you may have to leave a message - he will get back to you.

Some new conceptual views of the proposed library are available on the large lobby LCD screen - including an animated 360 degree flyby! Please come see it. Referendum information - Fact Sheets, extra copies of The Preface (special edition) and pictures/description of the proposed building are available on the website and at the Info Desk at the library.

It's also important that people look and interact to this blog because this is a great way to share ideas and start a multi-way communication.

Dates of Note: Oct. 26 (Sun) 2-4 pm and Oct. 30 (Thurs.) 7-9pm - open forum where the architects AND construction management firms will talk AND facility tours will be available. See and discuss first-hand why there is a both a NEED and a WANT for a new library.

Referendum updates and News

Ballot Wording Certified/Sample Ballot Available -

It's official - the ballot wording for the simple question of building a new library facility for $32 million has been certified by the McHenry County Clerk and a sample ballot is available for inspection at the McHenry Public Library - adult reference desk. We will also have a sample ballot available on-line on the building website. Please remember that the question is on the back side (verso) of the ballot!!

Building -

The architects have come up with a new design for the building that successfully blends traditional elements with more modern elements but still reflects the "atmosphere" of McHenry as well as retaining all of the 'green - environmental friendly'- elements. The green elements will be more costly for the build-out but, ultimately, be a long-term, cost-saving element over time regarding ongoing utility costs. Please see the new design on the building webpage (http://www.mchenrylibrary.org/).

Citizen's Committee -

The Citizen's Committee met on Wed., Sept. 17 and had a very productive meeting. Speaking engagements have been set up at a number of places.

Library board members will be posted at the information desk on Oct. 12 (Sunday), 12-4 pm. and on Oct. 15 (Wed) 6-9 pm. Billed as "Trustee in the Lobby" events, they will be geared toward showcasing the new library, the ballot question and answering questions regarding the project/referendum. J. Scholtz/B. Edminster will also be available and we'll try to coordinate tours so that people can see the shape of the building and WHY we need a new one.

The committee will also be printing various informational Fact Sheets that will be handed out to audiences in our District as members go out to speak to groups. These Fact Sheets are also available in the library at the Circulation and Adult Services Desks and can be downloaded/printed from the building website. Please contact the Citizens for a New Library group at mchenrylibrary@yahoo.com if you'd like to arrange a speaking engagement or find out when they're meeting. A PowerPoint presentation has also been developed that is also available on our building website.

The committee will also be printing voting buttons and newspaper inserts, so be on the lookout for those items.

Speaking Engagements and Events at a Glance -

McHenry Middle School Learning Center - Oct. 6, 7 pm
Riverwood PTO - Oct. 6, 7 pm
Oct. 7 - last day for voters to register for Nov. 4th election
League of Women Voters - voter registration at library - Oct. 7, 5-9 p.m.
Hilltop PTO - Oct. 7, 7 pm
Dist. 156 board meeting - Oct. 7, 7:30 pm
Oct. 14 - early voting starts
League of Women Voters - public forum on referendum issue - Oct. 8 7 pm
Public meeting and facility tour - Oct. 26 (Sun) 2 pm
Lions Club - Oct. 27, 7 pm. Mulligan's
Public meeting and facility tour - Oct. 30 (Thurs) 7 pm

Last Words -
Remember that this is your blog for information AND comments - mostly comments and questions!! We'd love to hear your views. Most people aren't against a new library but they may be against building a new library at this time due to the poor economic times. While we may not be able to change your mind, please plan to attend at least one of these meetings to become informed about the issue and see the condition of the building. If you've never been in the library, come in and see what you've been missing and WHAT YOU COULD BE MISSING. Also if you have a story about how the library has made a positive change in your life, we'd love to hear it and use it in our campaign because "libraries really do change lives" and the McHenry Public Library District wants to be part of your life!

Upcoming meetings

The next library board meeting will be on Tues., Sept. 16th, 7pm (library meeting room) where some new building designs will be discussed. Hopefully an artist's redition of the new library will provide inspiration to the board as they see definition in construction elements.

There will be a Library Citizen's committee meeting on Wed., Sept. 17th, 7pm at the McHenry Public Library District meeting room. Agenda items so far include the following:

Committee heads update
Tips for public speaking - Kathy Lambert
Brainstorming - how do we get the message out
vote Yes signs
ad with list of citizens voting Yes
Calendar for public speaking engagments

The Friends of the Library will be holding their annual meeting on Thurs., Sept. 18th, at 7pm in the booksale area. The referendum will be amoung several items discussed. Please plan to attend.

The League of Women Voters of McHenry County will have an educational forum specifically discussing the new building referendum on Wed., Oct. 8th, 7-9pm, in the McHenry Public Library District meeting room.

Also, on Tues., Oct. 7th, all day - the League of Women Voters will be registering people to vote in the Nov. 4th election. Please note that people can register to vote at the library at any time. Sample ballots for the election should be available the first week in October because early voting starts Oct. 14th.

On that day, Oct. 7th in the evening, the library will host a 'Tech Fair' - basically showcasing all of our electronic media - full-text databases, downloadable e-books and audio books, burning them to a CD or saving them to your iPod or flash drive, reference question messaging (Meebo) and other items. At the same time, we'll be running some informational presentations on our LCD screen in the front foyer about the library and library building referendum. So stop by, learn about our electronic reference sources (available from home as well), pickup a free mouse pad (first 125 people), register for some cool prizes and see whay we need a new building.

In October, various library trustees will be providing facility tours so you can we just why we need a new library. Watch this blog and our library website/library bulletin board for tour dates/times.

Responses to blog questions

Wow, thanks for the great response and fantastic questions!! I'll try to answer them.

1) Could we build the library for less? Yes, possibly and we'll try to keep costs down. Just because we ask for $32 million doesn't mean we have to take out bonds for that entirety AND the saving will be reflected on your tax bill. If we can build it for less we will - we do not want to build a monument - we want to build something useful but that will last. We haven't determined the final design yet - somehwere between design 1 and 2 - I know that people like both of them for different reasons. We will try to keep costs down as low as possible but we also want to use green, sustainable products and that will be more expensive than traditional construction but it will help us keep ongoing costs (utilities, etc.) down over time. We are also looking at making the building a bit smaller (from 75,000 sq. ft. to 67,000 sq. ft.) which will help reduce costs. In these difficult economic times, bidders are looking for work and construction bids may come in more favorable even though materials costs are increasingly higher. We want to build a library that will last a long time and be a structure that will be both useful and something of which the community can be proud. The library is a busy place now, but we want it to be even busier offering more meeting rooms, a bigger and brighter children's area with designated youth (Jr. high and high school) areas and more area for displays/events.

2) Do we need a drive-up window? We are putting in amenities that have proved worth in other libraries and also have been asked for in the McHenry community. Right now the downtown Chicago Public library has one, Algonquin, Gail Borden (Eligin) and Fremont have drive-up windows - I'm sure other libraries in the area have them as well. The drive-up window doesn't really add a lot of cost to construction but the inside of the library hasn't really been defined yet. At the same time, we're all busy and sometimes don't have time to come into the library - wouldn't it be nice to call ahead and have your holds waiting for you (think about how often you use a drive-up bank teller)? We'll be asking the public just what you'd like to see in a new building - services and amenities - at future public meetings. Personally, I'm totally open to trying some new things and deleting options that our public won't use. I welcome all suggestions.

3) Have we applied for grants and funding? We haven't applied for any grants/funding because we're not in the building stages yet - but we will. Most grants and funding require submittal of building plans and specific construction details - we haven't gotten that far yet. Green construction grants are difficult to come by in the Chicago area but we will apply for some Sierra Club grant money, Illinois State Library construction funds, LEED certification funding and others as well as orchestrate a local funding campaign (buy a brick, a tree, etc.) with possible corporate donations. We've estimated about $280,000 in grant money for the project.

I hope this answers some of your questions. I look forward to conversing with you on the blog and in person as you ask questions regarding the referendum and the new library. Jim Scholtz.

First post - library director

Welcome to the “Build a Library – Build Your Community” blog. Thanks for dropping in – we hope that you blog-response us and maybe even bookmark this site all the way up to Nov. 5, 2008!!

As the MPLD Executive Director, I’d like to point out some items of interest. In comments related to the NW Herald article of Aug. 20th – the library district is not part of the city of McHenry. It is its own taxing district.

The Old Building –

The building we currently occupy at 809 N. Front St. was the old Althoff, then Follett warehouse, built in 1971. Basically it is a converted warehouse and we occupy about 24,000 sq. ft. The building isn’t up to current electrical/plumbing/construction (especially insulation) or ADA codes and, if we were to renovate and add an addition, construction estimates would be in the neighborhood of $38 million. The building is a single story with 25 ft. ceilings, halogen inside lights and virtually no insulation. Interior electrical outlets and supply lines are a nightmare for running computers. Heating/cooling the building is very expensive and the flat, asphalt roof gives us nothing but trouble. The single meeting room is small and overcrowded with virtually no storage space and the library is nowhere near ADA compliant. Anytime substantial renovation or additions occur in a public building the ENTIRE building must be brought up to current code. True, the library only occupies one-third of the existing space but the rest of the space is not finished and would be too expensive to bring up to current building codes. Concrete floors are cracked, concrete block walls are below grade and water seeps in and the building has many other maladies that are too expensive to correct. Even if we spent the money to do it, we’d basically have an updated 1971 building with 25ft. ceilings – very inefficient energy-wise, and it can't support a second story. In 2006, a professional engineering company advised us that renovation would cost much more than demolition and new construction so that is why we are taking the tact of asking for a new building.

The Cost of the New Building vs. Value -

What’s a community library worth to you? If you live in the McHenry Public Library District (MPLD) and own property or rent, you can get a library card for free! Okay – through property ownership, you pay property tax, a portion of which supports the library. On a $225,000 home, that amounts to about $150. The average MPLD user checks out about $750 worth of materials a year, so you get a lot for your money. If you don’t use the library, then you might consider trying it because that’s $150 going to waste. The average American spends about $4,125 on entertainment per year. If the library could help you save money by NOT having to buy some books, videos/DVDs, audio books, etc. - wouldn’t that be worth it? So to the non-user, I say “Check us out and see what we can do for you – we’re not your mother’s library anymore!!” We have free Internet access, wireless access, downloadable audio books, online reference for homework and research, downloadable e-books, and video games as well all of the regular fare you’d find at a traditional library like books, DVDs, audiotapes and CDs. Our friendly staff can even get items from other libraries for you via interlibrary loan. Remember that the MPLD is not just a building – many of its resources (like online reference, downloadable books, audio books and music) are just a click away on your computer at http://www.mchenrylibrary.org/. Just have your library card number ready and you can access the WORLD!

So the cost of a new building in today’s economy is $32 million for a 67,000 sq. ft., environmentally-friendly building. Now, I’m a district resident as well and I pay property taxes. I don’t want my taxes to increase but I also look at the “bang for the buck” at any improvement. A community needs schools, roads, water and sewer and other basic services. Parks and libraries are called “value-added” or “quality of life” services and often, they make or break a company’s decision to come into a community. We as a library staff want to emphasize that you, the community (or at least the current library users) have, throughout the years, requested library amenities like more meeting rooms, a larger print collection, a larger children’s area, more space to sit and read with soft seating areas, more public accessible computers and the list goes on. We can’t provide these amenities or services in the current facility.

We want to serve you better by offering certain amenities such as the following:


1) more meeting room space that would be accessible after library hours for various events

2) a lobby with space for art/history exhibits
3) a drive-up window for materials pick-up and other transactions
4) a separate teen area designed by them!
5) a larger, more comfortable children’s area – with proper seating for various ages
6) a comfortable, living room atmosphere for adults to read – with plenty of soft seating
7) more public-accessible computer workstations
8) more plug-ins for people with laptops
9) study rooms for adults and children

So you can have all of the services above plus the bulleted amenities for only $107 more each year for 20 years. But, by using the library, you’ll get at least $750 in value each year per person and possibly save even more on your family’s entertainment bill. Not a bad investment in these difficult economic times.

We want the MPLD to become the “front porch of the community.” Traditionally, the front porch has been a neighborhood meeting place; a place where you get information – your mail, the daily paper delivered and friends dropping by for conversation. We want to be the first place you go for information or to get questions answered.

During the next two months, you’ll see other entries on this blog as well as other articles in the Northwest Herald about the project and referendum. Please ask us questions, add to the blog, and put the library to the test. But don’t make a rash decision – make an informed decision based on the facts. Community projects only happen through taxes and the community good as a whole. Sure these are difficult economic times, but the referendum will impact the next 20 years, which will be a mix of both good and bad times. In bad economic times, construction crews are looking for work and maybe we can get some extremely attractive bids that wouldn’t be available in good times. We will also seek construction saving wherever we can and a “green” building assures minimum environmental impact and lower operating costs. We feel that we can operate a larger facility within our existing operations/personnel budget. Furthermore, the facility will be something of which the community can be proud, serving as a cornerstone on Route 31.

Remember the new building will not only last your lifetime but the lifetime of your children and grandchildren. Hopefully, they will find the library a useful, friendly and inviting place. We’ll also be offering tours of the current facility in hopes of showing you the current problems. So bookmark this page and keep watching. Remember you can contact me at jscholtz@mchenrylibrary.org or telephone me at 815-385-0036. I’d love to hear from you.