| Library growth focus of bond vote $3.5 million plan seeks second floor, computer training room for Haggard 04/08/2001 By Wendy Hundley / The Dallas Morning News It's shortly before 10 a.m. and patrons are already lined up outside W.O. Haggard Jr. Library, waiting for the doors to open.
When they do, youngsters scramble inside to story hour, and adults fan out amid the shelves to browse. It's a scene that's repeated several times a week.
At times, children crowd into a story-reading corner meant to hold no more than 30 small bodies. Administrative offices for all five of the city's public libraries share the basement with Haggard's patrons, books and reference materials.
The answer, city officials say, is to add a second floor. That project, anticipated when the library was built 12 years ago, makes up the bulk of a $3.53 million bond proposal to expand the facility.
The proposal, Proposition No. 7 on the May 5 ballot, is part of Plano's $128 million bond package. If approved in its entirety, the package would gradually add about $24 to the average homeowner's tax bill in its third year, then decrease as the city pays off its debt load, city officials said.
"Haggard has been our busiest library for the past 10 years," said Joyce Baumbach, Plano's director of libraries. "A tremendous amount of people come here."
One result, Ms. Baumbach said, is the library at 2501 Coit Road is pinched for space.
Shelves are bursting. A line of book carts stands parked along one wall, more or less permanently loaded with the overflow. In the children's area, librarians must use even the highest shelves, putting some books out of kids' reach.
Cheri Gross, the library's manager, looks at the cramped conditions and voices her worst fear.
"If every single [checked-out] book came back to the library," she said, "we literally wouldn't be able to find enough shelf space."
Officials aren't sure why Haggard Library, which serves west central Plano, is such a busy place.
In February, 25,516 people used the library and 42,609 of its books and materials, Ms. Baumbach said. The same month, 21,347 people used the Gladys Harrington Library, which circulated 29,315 pieces of reading material.
Ms. Baumbach speculates that all the activity at Haggard is because of its central location. Or because it's so well established. Or because it houses a specialized reference collection. "We just don't know," she said.
In any event, officials said, they don't expect traffic at Haggard to drop much because of the recent opening of the Christopher Parr Library in far west Plano.
So far, it's had little effect on traffic at Haggard, and preliminary data suggest that most Parr patrons are new library users, officials said.
With a second floor at Haggard, the library's adult area could be moved upstairs and the first floor devoted to children and young adults.
"Having children on one floor will make it quieter for adults," Ms. Baumbach said.
The expansion project also would allow space to add a computer training room, a larger program room for community events or more administrative offices.
Design plans haven't been finalized. The project also would devote $500,000 to expand the parking lot on city land at the rear of the library, Ms. Baumbach said.
Library officials are optimistic about passage of the bond proposal because Plano citizens have a history of supporting their libraries.
"Even if they don't consider themselves library users, they recognize the importance of libraries for children," Ms. Baumbach said.
She says Plano's busiest library deserves more elbowroom.
"This is an investment in the future," she said. "As Plano reaches maturity, we want to be able to accommodate children and adults and give them the services they need."
Staff writer Wendy Hundley can be reached at 214-977-6980 and at .
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