Light turnout at forum on west-side library’s future

CEDAR RAPIDS - A surprisingly tiny number of people turned out at a forum Tuesday night to weigh in on whether the city's west-side branch library should stay in Westdale Mall or move across Williams Boulevard SW into a portion of a former Target store.

Bob Pasicznyuk, the library director, thought the cold night limited the number of attendees to 10.

He and library board members will conduct a second forum at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, Jan. 24, in the same place - the library's current spot in Westdale Mall. People also can provide their comments about the future of the west-side library branch at info@crlibrary.org, or call the library at (319) 398-5123.

Among those who attended Tuesday night was Walt Simmons, 72, who wants the library to keep its permanent west-side branch where it has been for years - in the mall. He said retirees walk inside the mall and then stop at the library to read.

Moving the branch into part of the former Target store across the street will ruin what retirees have come to enjoy, he said.

“I'll never go over there,” Simmons said.

He asked Pasicznyuk to look into using a different part of the mall for the branch library. Currently, the library is set up in a mall space formerly occupied by Osco drugstore. Simmons said the library should look to use part of mall that Linn County is temporarily using, in what had been a former Wards store.

Pasicznyuk said he would check to see if the space could be subdivided for a branch library once the county returns to its permanent home, the Administrative Office Building on First Street SW.

The mall site serves as the city's central library while a new downtown facility is being built to replace the one that was ruined in the Floods of 2008.

The library board is slated to pick a west-side option at its February meeting, with the goal of having the facility ready for use by year's end.