Current Progress:
July, 2008 - The City of Casper voted July 1 to approve the inclusion of the library referendum on the November ballot. The town of Evansville approved the measure July 7, and the town of Mills July 9.
June 19, 2008 - The library's Board of Trustees finalized and approved ballot language and cost estimates for the referendum in November. They voted to retain the planned building footprint of 96,000 square feet, incorporating a construction cost escalation factor of between 8 and 12 percent, based on current norms in the industry. View the Press Release.
May, 2008 - May has been a busy month for the New Library Project.
- Several presentations have been given to the public and to social and civic groups regarding the project. Community input has been received in these sessions, through comments submitted in the library and via the project website. Click here to submit your own ideas.
- A preliminary site plan designating where the building will sit on the property, how the parking lots are laid out, how the public enters the site, etc. has been submitted to the City of Casper.
- A traffic study is being conducted to determine any signal or street changes that may be needed.
- A soil study is being performed on the site to identify the site's load capacity, environmental status, and other concerns relating to construction.
- The library board is considering the building's potential environmental impact, construction options and project delivery methods.
- Library staff are considering possible floorplans and identifying strengths and weaknesses of each plan from a library services perspective.
- All of these components are being executed to help come up with a total project cost estimate.
April 9, 2008 - NCPL held a press conference to inform the press and the community of current progress on the new library project. The funding option that will be proposed was further explained, and the project architects introduced. Rick McCarthy of Burnidge Cassel Associates presented a possible site layout, as well as describing what happens next in the process. Later that day, the first community input meeting was held to gain input on what citizens want to see in their new library. Citizens can continue to participate through this site's input form, or by attending an upcoming meeting.
March 5, 2008 - NCPL announces the selection of a site for a new library building. The property is located at 435 W. 1st street, at the intersection of 1st and Walnut. Read the full Press Release or view the map of the property.
January 2008 - NCPL staff completed discussions of the library's initial "Building Program" which will give architects a rough idea of the amounts and types of spaces needed in a new library. The program was prepared by a professional library consultant who provided a veteran point of view regarding space needs in a modern library.
November 19, 2007 - The Natrona County Public Library Board of Trustees has selected an architect team to help develop plans for a new library. The team includes Illinois-based Burnidge Cassell Associates (BCA) and Casper-based Randall W. Hein Architects
The BCA-Hein team will help the Trustees develop cost estimates for a new facility and evaluate potential locations for a new library. Funds to hire this architect team have been provided by the NCPL Foundation and the Tate Foundation. Read the full Press Release.
August 2007 - NCPL's Board of Trustees formed a site selection committee to look for and evaluate possible library locations in the downtown area. View the criteria used for site selection.
Background Information - During the past several years the NCPL Board of Trustees completed a Strategic Plan and a Facility Needs Assessment. These two processes both pointed to the need to begin planning for a larger library that would serve Natrona County’s growing population well into the future.
Since the last major addition to the library in 1970, the number of annual checkouts has increased from 218,000 to 570,000 (or 160%). Similarly, the number of annual visits in 1974 was 39,472; that number has grown to 330,790 annually, or a 750% increase.
The professionally and independently prepared Facility Needs Assessment, completed in August 2006, estimated a new library would require 103,500 square feet, placed on 7 acres (this figure has since been refined to a 95,000 sf building on at least 6 acres. The existing 31,000 sf library sits on 1.5 acres.
