Town, school work toward joint library

SHELBY -- The Shelby School Board has joined with the Shelby Village Board on a joint library project that aims to benefit students at Shelby Public School and the community.

The plan is to build a new community library on the school property that will be accessible to both Shelby Public Schools students and Shelby residents. A joint committee has been created to oversee the project design, set up fund raising, write the grants and promote the project.

“I think the project will be a wonderful addition for the community and the Shelby Public School,” said Shelby Public School Superintendent, Larry Stick. “This will give the school and community a library facility that will benefit all the members of our community.”

Stick estimated the cost of the new 4,000 square foot library project at about $500,000. He said once members of the Shelby Library Foundation obtain approval from the state the group will pursue the necessary loans to finance the project.

The foundation is made up of members of the village board, the school board and the library board. The joint committee is comprised of members from the Shelby village board, the school board and the library board.

“The new library will be a separate building accessible to the students at the school by a hallway,” Stick said.

Once completed, the new library should eliminate the school’s need to expand classroom space in its effort to accommodate increasing enrollment at the Shelby Public School system for the 2008-2009 school year.

Rather than putting money toward classrooms, the school board decided to approach the village board and propose the joint project.

With the engineering and design phase in full swing the committee hopes to begin construction yet this fall.

“They hope to fund the project entirely with donations and grant money,” said Nitha White, chairwoman of the library board. “The grant committee is pursuing many grant opportunities that may match up to half of the project cost.

“The more money the library foundation has prior to the submission of the grant applications, the better chance (we have) for acquiring such grants.”

Area residents interested in supporting the project can send donations to the Shelby Library Foundation, P.O. Box 146 Shelby, NE 68662.