Your Most Burning Library Question Answered

At the Moorestown Library, we are in the business of answering your questions. Every day, you come to us with all kinds of inquiries, and it is our job to provide you with the answers you need. Your questions cover a huge range of topics, from “How can I get started researching my family tree?” to “Can you recommend a good mystery?,” and several times each day, “Where is the bathroom?”

Yes, we love serving as your tour guides through the world of information, but for some time now, there’s been one question burning in the minds of Moorestonians that we just haven’t known how to answer. It seems everyone in town wants to know: “What is going on with the plan for a new library?!”

We’ve been working hard for a long time to get to a point where we could give a satisfying response to that question, and while we don’t have all the answers yet, we want to provide you with the update you deserve.

Throughout the summer, members of the library’s management team, Board of Trustees and Friends organization have met on a weekly basis with architects Rick Ragan and Dan Nichols of the Ragan Design Group. The purpose of these meetings was to develop a design for a new Moorestown Library that would support the level of service the community deserves, while keeping the square footage as low as possible to accommodate tight budgetary constraints. We are pleased to report that this process has resulted in a design that all library stakeholders agree will serve the needs of the community well into the future.

At present, Ragan Design Group is acting on direction from Town Council to create a plan to adjoin the new library building to the new Town Hall on the current Town Hall site. Library stakeholders support this arrangement, which would allow the buildings to share common spaces. Completion of this building is referred to as “Phase 1” of the overall Municipal Complex plan. Once Phase 1 is complete, the library could move across the parking lot into its new quarters with minimal disruption in service, and the current library building could be demolished to make way for subsequent phases of the project.

Ragan Design Group will present its proposal for a new Moorestown Library at the Aug. 8 Town Council meeting. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the William Allen Middle School auditorium. All residents are encouraged to attend for more answers to your questions about the future of the library.

Stay tuned!