Frisco | January 2023

TOP STORY

A NEW SPACE The Frisco Public Library is planned to reopen in early February and will feature several areas meant to engage the public. SOURCES: TEXAS STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES COMMISSION, CITY OF FRISCO, FRISCO PUBLIC LIBRARYCOMMUNITY IMPACT

First oor

Second oor

CHURCH ST.

COTTON GIN RD.

Community event room

DNT TOLL

Mezzanine

Story time room Board book bay

Teen area

Kids area

Rexy is a 23-foot-tall model dinosaur skeleton.

The Frisco Public Library’s most popular items will be placed near the entrance.

PHOTOS BY COLBY FARRCOMMUNITY IMPACT

The quiet reading room will act as a more traditional library space.

The Frisco Ready to Read Railroad returns to the library.

The terrace will be open for public use.

area that promotes hands-on learning and more, according to a Frisco Public Library facts sheet. “When we started planning this new library, we wanted it to be some- thing that would serve the needs of this community upon build out,” Frisco Mayor Je Cheney said. “It would be that sense of community pride for all of Frisco.” In 2019, Frisco residents voted in support of a $62 million bond to relocate the library from the munic- ipal center after a study found the city’s library needed more space. The shelves were nearly full, and the library had circulated 1.37 million items in 2015. “I think that we have exceeded anyone’s expectations,” Cheney said. “When ... they walk through those doors the rst time, I think there’s gonna there’s gonna be a lot of wow moments from the public.” Moving day The library closed its branch at the George A. Purefoy Municipal Center on Dec. 9. The next day, sta mem- bers began “shelf reading” the books in the old space to make sure they were in the proper order, Material Ser- vices Handler Elizabeth Chase said. “It’s very hard to put other books in order on the shelves if the ones that are on there aren’t in order to begin

with,” she said. A 2014 study found that the library’s shelves were more than 90% full despite 31% of the collection being checked out on average, according to the Frisco Public Library’s master plan published in 2015. Several options were considered for expanding the library including branch libraries across Frisco, accord- ing to the master plan. Though branch libraries require less initial funding, maintaining a single space is more cost eective. Frisco residents are still able to check out eBooks, eAudiobooks and digital magazines via the OverDrive and Libby applications while the library is moving. A limited children’s collection is also available at Connec- tion at Stonebriar Centre. As recently as 2021, Frisco’s phys- ical circulation numbers reached nearly 1.9 million, more than double the circulation of the average library system in Texas, according to data from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The public library’s physical col- lection includes books, movies and CDs, nearly a quarter of a million items in total that have to be moved over, Chase said. Frisco residents had checked out nearly 50% of the library’s existing collection before it closed though, she said.

reserved room at the appointed time. The library’s meeting room options include two 20-person conference rooms, three 12-person conference rooms and several four-person, six-person and eight-person confer- ence rooms, Holley said. A commu- nity event room at the north end of the building can hold 300 people. There is one meeting room, called the “unconference room,” that fea- tures no technology and holds more casual furniture like a coee table. Donna Schmittler, president of the Friends of the Frisco Public Library, said she was excited to see new opportunities open up for local clubs and organizations to meet at the new library. As Frisco’s population grows and becomes more diverse, it becomes harder for groups to nd available spaces for meetings or activities. “I think when people walk in there and see the size and scope [of] the building itself, and all that’s available, I think they’ll be really impressed,” Schmittler said. Friends of the Frisco Public Library is a nonprot organization that accepts donated books that are gently used. The nonprot was expected to begin moving its bookstore to the library’s new space in January. They will have a publicly accessible space for their own workroom and bookstore, which

In addition to the existing collec- tion, the new library will open with nearly 24,000 new books, Chase said. The library has about 4.5 miles of shelves when lined up, Frisco Public Library Director Shelley Holley said. Chase said she was excited to have more space for the collection, some- thing the library did not have in its previous location. “I’m really excited for the collec- tion to have breathing room,” she said. “The shelves won’t be 90% full anymore. They’ll be about half full. ... We want to have room to grow as the community continues to grow.” Library priorities The new public library was designed and constructed with ve priorities in mind: lighting, power, data, sightlines and acoustics, Holley said. “We had the great good fortune of visiting a lot of libraries over ve years up to planning this one,” she said. “We came back here and real- ized there are ve things we have to get right for this building to really work.” With their library card, residents will be able to reserve one of more than 20 meeting rooms that will be available, Holley said. Residents can reserve a room online and will receive a code via email that will unlock the

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