Increasing space

Pennville library’s renovation is getting closer.

Bidding is now open for the project, with the bid opening scheduled for April 22.

The estimated $350,000 project will expand the Penn Township Library building by nearly 1,700 square feet, more than doubling the size of the facility.

Most of the project is being funded by the $333,000 awarded to Jay Region! for being a finalist for the 2019 Stellar Communities designation, a multi-million dollar investment initiative headed by Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. Jay County Commissioners also agreed to provide a 10% match for the project in August.

Plans are to construct the addition to the south of the existing 1,000-square-foot library at 195 N. Union St. Some other additions include a parking lot, a breezeway that will serve to connect the current library and the addition — it will double as the new entrance — and two new bathrooms. Plans are also to update the internet service, add more furniture (bookshelves, tables and chairs) and potentially add some new paint, flooring and windows to the old building.

Travis Richards, Jay County Development Corporation executive director, estimates the project will be completed within the next year.

“It’s going to be nice to see some more development in the downtown area,” Richards said.

Librarian Brenda Cash, who has been involved with the library for nearly all her life, explained in an October interview she was most excited to expand the children’s space. Before clearing the library in the last few months for construction, all books and items for infants through age 17 were crammed in the back room.

“We have a big selection of blocks and Legos and Tinker Toys for the kids to play (with), and it’s really hard when the high school kids come in because they’ve got to walk over it,” she explained.

Cash said she would like to have a section designated for young adults. She’s visited larger libraries with her grandchildren and has been eyeing their teen sections for years.

JCDC administrative assistant Jodi Hayes mentioned Thursday that the expansion will create an area to utilize for children’s programming.

Penn Township Library houses a variety of reading material, ranging from family scrapbooks to classic novels. In addition to the content, the existing structure itself also holds its own history. It once belonged to the late Pennville resident Estella Bradford, Cash explained. After her death in the 1980s, Bradford’s family had the home renovated into a space fit for a library.

The public library moved to the Union Street location in 1985 from its former spot in the basement at the old school building. Its southern lot, where the expansion will sit, also once held a house. After the structure burned down, local residents purchased, cleared and donated the property to the Town of Pennville.

Cash explained the Union Street building seemed huge in comparison to the old basement space. But as the years passed, and as computers and wifi became a mainstay in libraries, the building began to show its age.

“It’s just dated,” she said. “But it’s what we’ve got; it’s what we use. People are happy. They’re thrilled that we’re going to be able to have more room.”