SMYRNA, De. - The Friends of Duck Creek Regional Library announced this week they are officially moving forward with the project to build a new library in Smyrna.
They organization, made up of volunteers, signed a lease with the town for 99 years for a space behind Town Hall, with an entrance planned for Foxwell Street. Currently, the library's future site is a parking lot.
"Several years ago the university of Delaware did a need assessment, and this is a reasonable library from southern New Castle county down to approximately Cheswold. The issue I see with Smyrna is that we have a very nice library but it's very small, so we don't have a lot of computer access we don't have a lot of room for programs, although with the space they have they do a phenomenal job," explained Friends of Duck Creek President Joanne Masten. The Smyrna library on Main Street will eventually close and merge with the Duck Creek one upon its completion.
"We'll not only be able to have computer banks for people who are looking for jobs, for students who don't have access at home, but more importantly, meeting space. As you can see this is where we're meeting because with the fire company under construction, there's not a whole lot of meeting space in Smyrna, and we're going to have a lot of meeting space at the new library," added Masten, who has been working on this project since she was the mayor of Smyrna.
Early renderings show just how large the new regional library will be. Kay Wheatley, a consultant member of the group, says the pandemic has helped them to revise plans, and utilize the outdoors as well as the future building's interior.
"We are...adapting, I'm not going to say changing, but the design so that we have more outdoor space, we have larger meeting rooms it's not so many small spaces, and trying to just do it in a way that moving forward, for the next 20, 30 years pandemic or no pandemic that we're able to serve the community," said Wheatley. "Libraries are one of the best ways that you meet the needs of the whole community. Whether you're young, old, no matter your economic background, your racial background, no matter what - the library serves everybody in the community."
The Friends of Duck Creek Regional Library say that the state has already committed $4.4 million dollars to the project, which is about half of the projected cost for the library. The rest will be raised through donations and grants. If you are interested in donating, you can learn more about doing so here.
The hope is that the new library will be complete some time in 2023.