During the regular meeting of the City Council on April 9, Library Director Kendra Antila provided an update on a proposed addition to the children’s room that would provide needed space for a popular story time program.
Currently the story time programs take place in a corner of the kids section at the library, taking up about 350 square feet. Library Assistant Darcy Smith hosts story times twice a week, one for babies and one for preschoolers.
“We have very big crowds,” Antila said. “I attribute that to Darcy’s skill; she does a fantastic job at story time.”
Families come from Albany and Eugene to attend the programs, she added.
Children and parents “pack” into the space to listen to Smith read and sing, and parked strollers line the kids room. Even though Smith uses a quiet voice and encourages the children to also keep their voices low, Antila noted the voices can be distracting to other patrons in the library.
“It’s very loud when you have 60 voices singing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ and 20 feet away someone is trying to fill out a job application or do their taxes,” she said.
Entertaining children during this time limits access to books, storage and the family bathroom, and there is little to no room for crafts and activities, Antila said. As such, they often use the community meeting room to provide activities for children, but the city is in the process of moving their meetings to that room, which may limit use of the space for children.
“The craft part is really important. After preschool story time, they do a craft and it’s a very big deal,” she said. “And it’s important, too; the craft helps reinforce story time concepts. For a lot of people, story time is their only preschool. It’s an intro to sharing, to listening to instructions… What we do is important for the community.”
The library in years past has already obtained a design for the children’s room expansion of 746 square feet that would provide stroller parking, seating for adults and soundproof walls. The room would also be utilized for other programs for older children and teens.
Cost estimates in 2019 were at about $616,000, but today is estimated between $750,000 and $800,000. The library has been collecting donations and Friends of the Lebanon Library have so far raised $45,389.11, with another $100,000 expected to come.
Answering a question by Councilor David McClain, Antila said they were initially curtailed by COVID, and now with “the world on fire” it’s hard to estimate when the project can begin.
“I would like to say within five years, but it will depend on how successful we are with our grants and seeking wealthy benefactors who want to help us out,” she said.
In other business, the council:
- Approved an ordinance increasing the allowable number of chickens per household;
- Approved a resolution authorizing the prepayment and defeasance of a debt of the Special Public Works Fund Loan;
- Approved a resolution authorizing an interfund loan of up to $100,000 from the General Fund to cover the deficit at a rate of 4.60% equal to the rate of return in the investment pool.