A new or expanded West Branch Public Library may still be 10 to 15 years away, but planning is under way now and fundraising could start as soon as next year.


Library Director Nick Shimmin said that the state requires public libraries to assess public needs every five years or so to retain accreditation. But the previous library director, Heather Hildreth, got a grant to do a more in-depth study in 2005 that included trends in population growth and a number of things a library should have per capita.

“It’s very much straight by the numbers,” Shimmin said.

The result? The library needs more than twice as much space — about 11,500 square feet — by 2030 than it has now, about 5,000.

Shimmin said this is a “minimum goal” for the library’s long-range planning.

“But, saying we don’t need to do anything right now isn’t correct either as it’s going to be a long process and we have to plan and work towards those goals to be able to meet them by 2030,” he said.

One of the challenges is finding space for everyone to enjoy the library at the same time: from a common area for chatty pupils waiting for after-school practice to a quiet area for the unemployed using the Internet to find jobs, to those who simply want to read.

“We would love to have an area for the teens to talk,” Shimmin said, adding that a separate survey tells them the children “don’t want to be in the way, they just want a space.”

And, of course, the library wants to expand its collection.

With laptops, the library no longer needs a dedicated space for Internet users, Shimmin said.

The library wants public input for this building project, he said, to make sure everything is taken into consideration.

Some ideas include expanding to the east (toward Downey Street) and sharing space with the city parks and recreation department.

In 2008, the Library Board of Trustees signed a long-range plan that calls for more “small meeting and quiet space, increased work and storage area, and (to) add lending materials.”

That plan calls for an addition built within 10 years, and staff to increase as needed to provide additional services and programming.

“Given the economics of the past few years and the current financial status of both the state and city, I would guess that when the (long-range plan) is reviewed in a few years, we’ll have to extend that window to allow for additional fund-raising time,” he said.

The current library was built in 1993, some 17 years ago.

That 2005 space needs assessment was conducted by George Lawson, a library planner from Ames. Shimmin said the library is considering hiring him to conduct the feasibility study. By next year, the library hopes to have the building designed and plans for multi-year fundraising, Shimmin said.

The data in Lawson’s report is based on a model for figuring library sizes by the Wisconsin Division for Library Services. The model focuses on collection space, user seating, work space, programming space, computing space, special use space and structure/support space.

Lawson predicts that West Branch’s population will grow to 3,040 by 2030 (compared to roughly 2,300 now) and that the non-resident users of the library will grow to 1,800, for a total of 4,840 in the “service population.”

He calculates that the library’s collection will need almost 3,500 square feet, general user seating will need about 1,400 square feet, computer stations will need more than 300 square feet, staff work space will need about 1,000 squarer feet, program space will need about 1,300 square feet, and special use space will need more than 1,100 square feet. With other necessities (storage, restrooms, hallways, etc.) adding nearly 3,000 square feet, the total space would require 11,520 square feet.