New Kimball Library to open in October

From the Eagle-Tribune;


New Kimball Library to open in October
By Meghan Carey
Staff writer

ATKINSON — The new Kimball Library will be finished by the end of the month, but already the inside is coming together.

The $2.7 million project is expected to open in mid-October with a special evening reception and a ribbon-cutting ceremony the following day. Architect Ron Lamarre, who is overseeing the entire project, said it will take all of September to get the furniture — shelves, tables and chairs — delivered and set up.

In the end, the project should come in under budget, but Lamarre said it's too early to tell how much will be saved.

Jeff Parks, Bauen Construction's general contractor, said most of the lights are installed and the duct work is almost complete. A crew is working to install the ceiling panels this week.

"For the most part, all of the finish work is done," he said.

That includes the children's room, which was designed with lower windows so children could look out and a special "wet" room with a linoleum floor for crafts, library trustees Chairwoman Kay Galloway said.

To get into that room, children must enter through an opening in a wall painted like a traditional red barn.

The barn, which has the original Atkinson Public Library sign on it, is part of a farm motif chosen by trustees, Galloway said. The opposite wall will have murals of farms in each New England season, she said.

The rest of the library is done in more of a "coastal" theme, with blue and green carpets, Galloway said. The walls are a sandy tone, which was chosen because it's both bright and warm, she said.

Galloway said it was too soon to take photographs of the inside of the 11,000-square-foot building, which more than doubles the space of the current 4,800-square-foot library.

The new building also includes a large administrative space, two kitchens — one for staff and a smaller one for functions — and numerous conference and meeting rooms. Thanks to two anonymous $50,000 donations, Galloway said, those rooms will be fitted with large-screen TVs and laptop computers. The donations paid for a variety of other touches, including curtains.

Library trustees will meet tonight and are expected to finalize dates for the transition to the new building. They plan to hire a moving company to move the books, computers, DVDs and CDs from the old building. Staff members then will have to get things in order.

The library will likely be closed for at least a week when the books are being moved and staff members are becoming acclimated and trained on new computer systems, library director Diane Heer said. She wants her staff to be ready for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"We expect we'll have a lot of traffic coming through," she said.

While the library is closed, Parks said, he plans to demolish the old building and level the ground.