by WYNETTE BARTON

Kyle water bills will come with a questionnaire this month soliciting opinions about the new library that will be under construction by early summer. Take as much or as little time with it as you choose, says the Library Building Committee, but please respond.  This is your chance to have a say on the $3.5 million facility that will serve you, and all ideas will be considered.

The questionnaire is included in water bills as an economic measure and can be returned to the city with water payment.

A public meeting on March 8 will follow at City Hall, with tentative building plans available for viewing and more chances for opinions to be expressed.

The design-and-build firm hired for the project has already presented several preliminary plans to the Library Building Committee, with the top choices to be presented. Before plans proceed further, the committee is soliciting input from the community about spaces, services, and general design for the new facility.

The old library began bursting at its seams more than three years ago, with users increasing exponentially since that time. There are now more users in one day than previously visited the library in a month or more, and the library staff and board have scrambled to find space for books, tapes, DVDs, CDs, periodicals, and computers, as well as meeting spaces for Scouts, clubs, and other local groups that use current library meeting rooms 20 or more times a week.

The Building Committee has already begun to  consider possibilities for a new state-of-the-art library with various spaces and activities for children, teenagers and adults.  Community input will help decide about use, need and hope for special areas, programs, meeting spaces, and collections as well as the overall design of the new facility. Among other possibilities, the library hopes to enlarge its local history section with contributions of books, articles, family papers, photos and artifacts from area citizens.

With good luck, good weather, and prompt citizen input, work on the new library should begin sometime in the early summer. Construction is expected to take a little more than a year.