For a number of years, Meridian/Lauderdale County Public Library Executive Director Steve McCartney has pleaded with city and county officials for support in building a new facility.

“We’re busting at the seams,” said McCartney. “Simply put, the library has outgrown its current location and plans must be made now to ensure quality library services for the future.”

The findings of a recent study may be instrumental in what the future holds for the downtown facility.

In September 2007, library consultant Anders Dahlgren was hired to conduct a study on M/LCPL and the services it provides. On Tuesday, the results of that study will be revealed during a public forum at Union Station.

“We want everyone to come to this meeting,” McCartney said, with emphasis on “everyone.”

“The public’s participation in this process is a key to the future success of the library.

McCartney, along with Meridian/Lauderdale County board members J.D. Watson, chairman, and Bill McBride, vice chairman, met recently with The Star’s Editorial Board to discuss the study and current problems the facility faces.



Star: Tell us the process of the report and what it means.



McCartney: The whole idea of the initial feasibility study really began nearly a decade ago when we started having growing pains in our current facility – not only with the various collections that we have, but particularly when the new technologies came in(Internet and providing Internet access and that type of services to the public).

We started talking about the idea then, but as you can imagine when you’re working with a limited financial resource – as the library does and most public entities do – it was really something we had to plan on for a period of time, and really wait until we were not only financially ready, but also ready as a staff to address this and get the process going.



Star: Give us a synopsis of how the study was conducted.



McCartney: The Board and I interviewed three internationally recognized consulting firms and hired Anders Dahlgren, who is one of the best in the world as for library consultants. The consultant’s fee was $13,000, which included his work and travel expenses.

Anders came in and did a variety of interviews, including an initial interview with the library’s board and staff. He came a second time and met again with our board and worked with our key community





leaders, such as the mayor, the board of supervisors, East Mississippi Business and Development Corporation and representatives from both school systems. He came a third time and met with the board to give them an update as to where we were and conducted our small group meetings, which are a vast array of the community representing all aspects.

The gist of the study was not to put dollars and cents on to either upgrading the existing facility, expanding it or looking at other alternatives. We wanted to get an idea of what we could do now with what we have and what type of recommendations – based upon not only statewide and regional, but also national trends – we should consider now and plan for in the future. What this study has done is looked at our current facility and services, and made recommendations based upon those three group with which we were compared.

We’re to the point now that the final report has been prepared and we’re ready to present what is basically the gist of 10 years of dreams and over 12 months of really hard work to the community. And really get a feel from them as to where they would like to see their library go – not only in the short term, but also in the long term. We’re very excited to present the idea of even better library services to the residents of Meridian and Lauderdale County. We’re very hopeful and very open to whatever additional comments and concerns should result from this open meeting.



Star: What is the current status of the library; you seem to need expansion in a lot of different areas.



McCartney: All the areas of our collections are deficit, as far as what regional and national trends are. We’ve got a collection now of 120,000 books. We’re busting at the seams to the point that for example our children’s collection – one of our most highly used and probably one of our more important collections – anytime we make a major purchase of new children’s materials, we literally have to take books off the shelf and find a place to store those to put the new materials in. We have no shelving spaces.

Our audio/visual collection has expanded to the point that we just can’t grow anymore. Our technology – we currently have 13 public access computers and we really need an Internet room. We have 13 Internet computers to serve a population of nearly 80,000 people, that doesn’t count our surrounding counties or the students from Meridian Community College and Mississippi State University, Meridian campus who use our facilities. The study said we needed a minimum of 100 public access PCs.



Star: Where does the bulk of funds for the library come from?



McCartney: The day-to-day operational funding comes from a countywide mileage. We do receive state funds, which helps to supplement primarily personnel costs.



Star: When was the last time there has been a bond referendum for any type of infrastructure for the library?



McCartney: In 1993, the county agreed to put our library on a countywide mileage – 2 mils or about $860,000 a year – which the consultant said has been at a good level to maintain operations of what we have right now. We just came out of a five-year mileage reduction, where the amount we received was reduced and the amount lost during that period of time was around $500,000.

The Riley Center Foundation has provided two significant grants – a $150,000 to purchase non-fiction books and $100,000 for our audio book collection.



Star: What other sources have other communities have received funding?



McCartney: Most of it is done through bonding type issues; it depends on the size of the project and the population it serves. For the last five to eight years, there have been new public libraries built throughout the state of Mississippi, including McComb and Hattiesburg, and most have been done through bond referendums. There is a program through the Mississippi Library Commission which provides $250,000 in funds.



Star: How old is the current facility?



McCartney: Construction began in 1965 and opened in 1967. The original library – currently Meridian Museum of Art – was built in 1913 with funds from Andrew Carnegie.



Star: What does the report say about the location of a new facility?



McCartney: The consultant didn’t specifically list a location, however he recommended a minimal area of 4.8 acres to build the facility on. As far as size, he recommends 76,000 square feet in a multi-floor type setting – taking into account that public library building experts tend to agree that libraries need to concentrate on a future life once they’re opened of a minimum of 20 years.

There were comments from the small groups – the key informants believe a new facility must be located in the downtown location; others believe that it needs to be in an area that would be more accessible to a large population.

If you’re looking to build in the scope of what the consultant is recommending for our community, it’s not going to be a cheap project. But then you wouldn’t want it to be a cheap project; you’d want to do it right the first time and make sure that it’s adequate to serve the needs of the community – not only now, but in the future.



Star: Once the report has been released, what’s the next step?



McCartney: I believe the first step is to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort in getting more feedback and input and educating the general populace more as to what our needs are – where we could go, where we should go – and trying to get a coalition of people within our county to not only buy the idea, but also get involved in seeing this as something that would not only benefit their lives, but also the lives of their children and our community and county as a whole.

McBride: Once the public is aware of the study, the next step is to come out and say, ‘These are the recommendations. Now where do you want us to go to provide the service to the community?” Not only do we serve Meridian and Lauderdale County, but also seven our eight surrounding counties that either don’t have library or very small ones with limited resources.

A new facility is needed in a location where the library can expand. The building can’t support infrastructure to improve electricity, heating, air conditioning and other necessary, as well as provide room for the material and services and library provides.

Watson: If Meridian is going to step forward, we shouldn’t use something from the 1960s. Like the schools, our library needs to be upgraded with a new building so that we better serve our community with ever better services.



Public forum



What: Presentations of feasibility study on Meridian/Lauderdale County Public Library

When: Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Union Station, Second Floor

For more information: Call the library at (601) 693-6771