BY SHELBIE HAMILTON
Diving in deeper
The impact
The library will close prior to the start of construction on the project, which is expected to begin in May. During the roughly year-long closure, Smith said library services and programming will be impacted. Library sta are working to create solutions to o er pick-up locations for books on hold and other programming during the closure. Smith said the library often sees homeless community members spend their days in the facility. Library o cials have been working with the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness to prepare for the impact the closure will have on this community, he said. The reimagined library is slated to be completed in summer 2026, and grand re-opening celebrations are expected, city documents state.
The second oor will see the addition of a 26-foot, full-dome planetarium, which will increase the library’s educational and entertainment o erings. The planetarium will be able to hold 55 people and can be used for a wide variety of programming, Smith said. It will also be the only free public planetarium in Collin County. Beth Beck, chair of the Library Advisory Board and a former NASA employee, said the planetarium will o er opportunities for the community to see content like rocket launches. Beck also said she has collaborated with city o cials to pursue a software package that will allow for content created locally to be shown in the planetarium. “I’m super excited about the possibilities that technology can bring to the community,” she said. Adjacent to the planetarium is a 2,500-square-foot exhibit space that will enable the library to host traveling museum exhibits, such as exhibits from
The seating in the planetarium will be non- xed, allowing for exibility in the space’s programming.
RENDERING COURTESY CITY OF MCKINNEY
children’s museums in Pittsburgh and Minnesota. “To be able to view and interact [with] muse- um-quality exhibits and see a related planetarium show all while visiting the library creates a unique experience that is repeated with each new o ering,” Harrison said. “It is going to be a lot of fun.” The second oor will also feature the dedicated adult area and nine study rooms.
“We’re not getting rid of the Roy and Helen Hall legacy. We’re really just [considering] how we can use … the space we have to
By the numbers
2024 library usage
The library currently accounts for 4% of all visits and visitors to the Historic Core area in East McK- inney, Smith said. Hall Library averages between 2,500-3,000 unique borrowers each month. “The Hall Library gets a lot of tra c just from the downtown area, and I think it will be more of a major draw once the library reopens,” said Lauren Smith-Carter, president of the McKinney Public Library Foundation. Smith said he expects the library to see an addi- tional 100,000 visits annually upon reopening.
Item circulations— 32% increase from 2020 Active accounts. 66% of McKinney households have an active account New memberships added
reimagine what a library downtown could be,” SPENCER SMITH, MCKINNEY DIRECTOR OF LIBRARIES
1.78M
73,000+
12,000+
42,500+
Program attendees
4,750+
Volunteer hours
SOURCE: MCKINNEY PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM COMMUNITY IMPACT
3 STRATEGIES TO REDUCE TAXES ON ROTH CONVERSIONS
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