A recently completed needs assessment shows that one of the Jefferson City owned properties is inadequate and needs more space to be effective.

A six-month process came to a conclusion recently on the Jefferson Public Library when Library Planner George Lawson gave a formal presentation to the Jefferson City Council. The library received a grant through the State Library of Iowa last fall. Lawson conducted information gathering sessions with the Library Board of Trustees, the Friends of the Jefferson Library, library staff, as well as two community forums. The report shows that between the 1904 Carnegie building and the one-story addition put on in 1966 is about 8,000-square-feet of space. Lawson noted that to house the existing services and operations, the library actually requires 12,382-square-feet. The study also shows that future planning should consider between 16,000 to 19,000-square-feet.

Other areas that Lawson pointed out were issues with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, not enough meeting space for library programs or community meetings to take place, and not enough adequate areas for people to read or have “creative” areas. Children’s Librarian Terry Clark echoes the issues she has with the inefficiencies of programming space at the library.

“I would say probably 75 to 80-percent of our programs are off site and not at the library. And we would love to have people be able to come to the library to attend programs. So we are looking forward to some changes for the future. I think change is a good thing.”

When compared to two peer groups in the report, Lawson noted that the library loans 50-percent more items and provides twice as many programs, along with having 17 to 28-percent larger book collections than either peer group.

Library Director Jane Millard is excited about the future of the library.

“The Library Board of Trustees, The Friends of the Library and the library staff will be working very hard in the next few months, using George’s written plan that he left for us, to give us guidelines for the future. So we’re doing near future and long-range planning. We’re excited about that and we’re hoping the public will be too.”

Jefferson Mayor Craig Berry says at some point he expects a recommendation to come to the City Council for an architectural firm to conduct a feasibility study. If anyone is interested in seeing the initial report, it is available at the library during normal business hours.