The Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library Board recently purchased property at 190 Spring St. that had been operated by Mary Ellen Sheard as Crystal Garden Antiques since 1977. The acquisition in October adds a garage space previously owned by Sheard that adjoins Friends Room, used for meetings and programs.
“It will take a while before we see any immediate changes for our day-to-day operation, but it is really exciting for the future,” library board president Lucilla Garrett said. “It opens up a whole new area of expansion. The purchase also includes a garden area south of the building. The downstairs street level space is 2,000 square feet, plus the garage and garden area. This will more than double the space available in the annex. So, it is a really large acquisition. What we are excited about is it will allow the library to grow and eventually expand.”
Garrett said Cornerstone Bank was very helpful in underwriting the acquisition, and the library board plans to lease the spaces for some years to reduce debt.
“We have to do some renovations before we lease it,” Garrett said. “I’m hopeful we will be able to find wonderful businesses to rent the space until we can convert it to library use.”
Garrett said every month between 6,000 to 8,000 items are checked out of the library, and in 2017, 87,000 items where checked out. Also very popular are eight computers at the annex available for public use. The annex has free Wi-Fi, and a charging station for people who bring their own computers. It is estimated that people are using the computer annex room a thousand hours a month.
“The library is providing many services to the community,” Garrett said. “When we opened the annex four years ago, it was used from day one. I’m sure if we doubled the size of the annex and put in another eight computers, we would be busy. It is quite amazing to me.”
This past year about 300 sessions were held in the Friends Room. That has housed the board’s book sales, community meetings and library programs. In August alone, 22 groups met there and there were 39 programs for children and adults.
“The library is very tight right now,” Garrett said. “They do need more space. I call this the dream category and there are many dreams the staff and the board have for the new space. Patrons will have a lot of input. I’ve heard everything from moving certain departments down to the street level to having a coffee area. Everything is tight in the main library area and in the annex. Having a little space will be a great boon for the library.”
The Centennial and Friends Rooms were purchased in 2000 and leased out to pay for themselves. Garrett said they were able to pay off that building early in 2004 when there was a major donation left to the library in an estate.
Library Director Loretta Crenshaw said some of the ideas being considered include smaller rooms that people could use for studying or Skyping. Right now, Skyping is discouraged because using the program that can allow people to video conference or make long-distance telephone calls would be too disruptive to other patrons.
“We have talked about the possibility of having a youth services area with a little more room for the kids to hang out,” Crenshaw said. “If we had computers dedicated to teens, it would free up more space in the main library. We’ve had more people wanting more comfortable seating to hang out and read in the main building.”
Crenshaw said the space might be used to teach traditional skills like cooking, canning and sewing. It could also become a “makerspace,” a big trend with libraries these days that includes more high-tech applications like 3D printing and robotics.
She is also enthusiastic about the outdoor garden space.
“I’m an advocate for parking, but that has not been a popular choice even though it is hard to find parking at the library,” Crenshaw said. “People drive by to pick something up and can’t find parking. I don’t really know the answer to that. The outdoor space could be used for things like nature programs that are hard to do on a sidewalk or inside a building. I’ve been approached by the native garden group about possibly some native plants in there, including those beneficial for pollinators. It could be a nice showcase area for native plantings in our town.”
The building recently purchased was built in 1900. The name on the top of it is McLaughlin, and in the early days it was a meat market and grocery store.