The D.R. Moon Memorial Library will remain housed in the Stanley Fire Station for the duration of construction of the new building.
Library Director Elizabeth Miniatt gave the update at last week’s city council meeting.
“Originally we had planned and were told that we would be able to get back into the original library this month,” she said. “We would be able to get back into that building earlier than the whole project being completed. But it’s looking like now that this will not happen. There were some things that we ran into with the old building that we weren’t anticipating that have made that part of the project more extensive and longer, so currently we are planning to stay at the temporary location of the fire station until the library project is completed. Right now, Hoeft is projecting summer 2026.”
As to what they had run into, Miniatt shared that it was the hardwood floors.
“The biggest difference with what we were expecting with the work needing to be done on the existing building and what we actually found when we got in there was the original hardwood floors were gone,” she said. “We had planned on the hardwood floors still being there and simply refinishing them, but they must have been taken out at some point.
The brick walled library survived a major fire in May of 1906, with floor boards above the drop ceiling on the lower level showing burn marks.
Also included was an update on building construction.
“A little bit of update about the library project,” she said. “Last week they did finish pouring the last of the exterior walls, and they also did grade and prep work for the road patches. This week they’re setting road patches, they’re setting plumbing, and basement seal as well.”
As for the fire station, programs included a puzzle exchange and just create it.
“Please note the library will be closed for Thanksgiving,” she said.
Looking forward, meanwhile, Miniatt shared a survey on hours that she encouraged people to fill out.
“We’ve been tracking our hours at our temporary location at the fire station, since which we started in September,” she said. “ When we set the hours wide variety of hours, but I also wanted to keep track and seek what was working. Our most popular hours have been 10 to 11 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. I also made a survey regarding open hours that available on our website and Facebook. I want to encourage everyone to take the survey and let us know how the hours are working though that survey. We’ll use the responses from that survey and the number of visitors through the day to inform what our hours will be in the new year.”
As for the present, the hours are as follows:
Monday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2. p.m.
Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m
Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
As for group activities, Storytime is held every Monday from 10 :30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., while the Girls Who Code club is the second Wednesday of the month from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Book Club is the first Thursday of the month at 2 p.m.
As for the annual Christmas Party, it’s in question.
“Since we’re here at the Fire Station, we likely won’t have a Christmas Party this year like we normally do,” Miniatt said.