Ames Public Library Plans Progress; Move Expected This Fall

Voters overwhelmingly approved in November an $18 million plan to renovate and expand the , but it will be at least a few more months before it seems like anything is happening.

Art Weeks, Ames Public Library Director, said he expects that the library will move into a temporary location sometime this fall.

Plans call for expanding the 48,000 square foot library to 77,000 square feet by expanding the first story and also adding a full second story. The library will have to move to a temporary location during construction and that temporary home has yet to be determined.

In April Ames Public Library Trustee Jim Luckett said the most pressing problem would be to find a space that the library could move to.

The Library Board of Trustees has a few locations in mind and a construction advisor is evaluating them to see if they would make a good fit.

The board is also currently proceeding through the design process and hoped to provide an update at its meeting Thursday, but the design presentation isn't quite ready and it has been pulled from the agenda, Weeks said.

Thursday the board will discuss approving a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environment Design) commissioning agent. With expected renovations, the new and improved library will be certified as a LEED silver building, Weeks said.

The Trustees meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday in City Council Chambers at City Hall.