People began casting ballots for the Nov. 8 election last week after early voting opened Wednesday. Voters who live within Bainbridge Township, Jasper-Boone or Jasper Madison voting precincts found — and will continue to find — a referendum question for the Jasper Public Library tucked into the ballot.
The referendum question reads, “Shall Jasper Public Library issue bonds or enter into a lease to finance the construction of and improvements to a facility for use as the Jasper Public Library building, which is estimated to cost not more than $6,500,000 and is estimated to increase the property tax rate for debt service by a maximum of $0.0595 per $100 of assessed value?”
But what does that mean?
The question asks voters to approve a $6.5 million in property taxes to cover building a new library. Since submitting the question for approval from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, the library board has worked out several details of the proposed project that aren’t reflected in the question. Voters can find a property tax calculator on the library’s project website, myjasperlibrary.org. The calculator will tell voters their monthly tax increase based on the net assessed value of their property, which is the value used to calculate the tax increase. The calculator, prepared by Indianapolis-based H.J. Umbaugh and Associates, uses an interest rate 1 percent higher than projected rates in the calculation, as well as the worst-case-scenario bond amount of $6.5 million. The board, however, aims to raise $2 million through the Jasper LEADS campaign to lessen the tax burden. The campaign has already raised roughly $775,000 specifically for the library.
If the referendum passes, the new library facilities will be part of the proposed Jasper Cultural Center planned for the property where the Hoosier Desk building sits at the corner of Third and Mill streets near the Riverwalk across the street from the Jasper Train Depot. The Hoosier Desk building will be demolished to make way for the new cultural center. The library board and its project partners, the Jasper Community Arts Commission and Louisville-based private developer City Properties, obtained $3.4 million in property tax credits that will be awarded to and sold by City Properties for the cultural center project as a whole. In September, the project partners released a preliminary design schematic to help voters visualize what the cultural center could look like. That story can be found here.
So, why does the library need an outdoor patio, or rooms dedicated specifically to programming, or a makerspace (and what is that)? The short answer is those features are part of a 21st-century library, Jasper Public Library director Christine Golden said. A 21st-century library is a place where people come for more than just books, although those are still popular — traditional books make up 61 percent of the library’s total circulation so far this year. But today’s library patrons want more. They want computers and places to try out new technologies. They want meeting rooms, group study rooms and activities. The following are some major features library staff plans to have in the new Jasper library and how they’re used at other nearby libraries — Louisville’s Southwest Regional branch, the Ohio Township Public Library’s Bell Oak Branch in Newburgh and the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library’s Oaklyn Branch.“Flexible space” has been a buzz phrase in planning the new Jasper library, Golden said. The librarians want to be able to use rooms for multiple purposes and to be creative with shelf displays. Right now, the Jasper library has room for displays by the main entrance, and often those displays are small. A new library would come with ample space where librarians can feature more new books or themed books at the holidays or events like Banned Books Week. Movable shelving makes creating displays easier. Jasper Branch manager Beth Herzog Schmidt particularly liked the movable shelves at the Louisville branch because they sit on castor wheels.
Another important feature in the new Jasper Public Library would be more accessible shelving. Right now, the library’s collection is larger than the space, leading to shelves towering over patrons’ heads, even in the children’s area. The tall shelves make seeing and finding books on the top shelves difficult for adults, let alone children and people with disabilities. Any new shelving purchased for the new library would be shorter and more accessible. The library, however, does not plan on purchasing all new shelving for a new library. The current shelving would travel to the new location, but some new shelving would be necessary to allow the collection to grow. The librarians at the Louisville branch moved into the current facility roughly two years ago and said the collection has grown a lot since the move.
Today’s public demands meeting and study rooms from libraries, something the current Jasper facility doesn’t have. Instead, there’s a struggle to house the 420 library activities offered each year.
“We get calls all the time (for meeting rooms),” Golden said. “We have to tell people, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t have anything available.”
All three model libraries had multiple meeting rooms available to the public for rent, making the space a revenue source for the library. The Oaklyn Branch schedules meeting rooms a year in advance the need is so large. Smith said the meeting rooms at the Bell Oak branch are the “most used resource.” At the new Jasper library, the meeting rooms would be part of the shared spaces. The plan is to make the meeting rooms a flexible space with movable walls that can create a handful of small or medium rooms as well as one large one, depending on the renter’s needs.
Study rooms are also in demand. Students can use the rooms for group projects without disturbing other patrons, journalists can conduct interviews and tutors can meet with their pupils in study rooms, to name a few uses.
“We have tutors like crazy,” Oaklyn branch manager Erika Barnett said of the study rooms.
Right now, the Jasper library doesn’t offer study rooms, although there are tables sprinkled throughout the collections.
Integrated staff spaces
Sarah Ann Jump/The Herald
The staff areas in the new library would be modeled after those at the Bell Oak branch. There, the staff is integrated into the building with desks in various sections and a workroom behind the desk. For example, the children’s librarians’ offices are in the children’s section and the reference librarian are is in the reference section. Activity rooms for the age groups are also in near the librarians’ desks.
“This is my dream for the staff, right here,” Golden said during the tour.
In Jasper’s current facility, the librarians are clustered along the south wall of the building near the circulation desk and genealogy room, with the exception of one desk for the two children’s librarians. When lines form at the circulation desk, the area, which also serves as the main thoroughfare through the building, becomes congested. Integrating the staff throughout the new space, which would be roughly two times the size of the current building, would alleviate congestion near the circulation desk, make librarians more accessible to patrons and allow for better security. The new space would also bring the offices for administrative staff, currently housed across the street from the library in the Jasper Library Annex, into the main building for added assistance during busy times.
Natural light and an open floor plan
Sarah Ann Jump/The Herald
Big windows that let in ample sunlight were a big part of the three libraries Jasper’s would be modeled after. Architect Martin Merkel of Louisville designed the Louisville library and said daylight was a focus of the space. Jasper native and City Properties architect Ashlynn Ackerman said natural light would be a focus of the cultural center as well, especially on the library’s portion. Natural lighting can be used to guide patrons through the space by guiding the eye, as well as to lower the utility bill by saving electricity.
The open floor plan pairs with the natural light to create an inviting space. The three model libraries were set up with open floor plans where the collections and shelving are in the middle and tables and comfy chairs for reading or studying rest along the walls.
“You have your privacy, but you don’t feel like you’re on an island,” Golden said.
The open floor plan also makes security easier because librarians have a wider range of view.
Outdoor spaces
Sarah Ann Jump/The Herald
Another commonality among the three model branches is an outdoor space with tables or seating of some kind. The Louisville branch has a pond and walk bridge, and the Oaklyn branch has a native meadow area maintained by local master gardeners, as well as a patio near the parking lot where people can read or have a snack.
“People use (the patio) a lot,” Barnett said.
The outdoor space at the Bell Oak branch is most like what is planned for Jasper’s new building. Bell Oak has a large patio space with foliage that is shadowed by the building on one side and pillars on the other during most times of the day. It looks a little like the Secret Garden, and Smith said a handful of couples have held their weddings there. The preliminary schematic for the cultural center includes a promenade space on the main level that Golden imagines will be similar to the patio at the Bell Oak library.
At all the model libraries, patrons had to check out materials before taking them to the outdoor spaces. A roof-top patio is planned for the new Jasper Library off the second floor loft area where patrons would be able to read books without checking them out first.
Community art space
Sarah Ann Jump/The Herald
Both the Bell Oak and Oaklyn libraries have spaces to show community art. At Bell Oak, pieces by local artists hang on a wall along the hallway with the meeting rooms and are set in cabinets in the main entrance for silent auction. At Oaklyn, cabinets are available to community artists for display. The artists can leave contact information for patrons who wanted to purchase a piece.
With the coupling of the arts and library in the proposed Jasper Cultural Center, including local art, somehow seems like a given. Golden has mentioned the possibility of including local artists’ pieces in the gift shop area (along with books and shirts). Other ways to include community art will likely be discussed down the road, Golden has said at library board meetings.