A new chapter opens for the Monett Library

For two decades, the Barry-Lawrence County Regional Library has been trying to replace its 50-year-old Monett branch. After a tax rate adjustment stripped away anticipated income and multiple trips to voters seeking a tax increase, the $6 million new library on Old Airport Road and Park Street in Monett opened in November. Strategic planning, including pre-ordering the steel for construction, enabled library leaders to save around $1 million and deliver more in the final product.

Located in what has been called Monett’s educational corridor, by the high school and the future home of the middle school, the dream come true has only begun unfolding like a big beautiful flower, full of surprises and new delights.

Planners scoured the internet, other library designs and input from a community survey to assemble new and innovative ideas, then incorporate them into this new site, the biggest branch in the system, the flagship of the system. The results of their efforts have resonated with patrons.

Many times since the opening, all the parking spaces, now numbering around 40 – five times the dedicated parking space at the old branch at Sixth and Bond streets – have been full.

“We circulated 1,000 titles in the first four days the facility was open,” said Greg Brown, marketing director.

The Monett branch over the years competed closely with the Mt. Vernon and Cassville branches for which one circulated the most material. Excitement has been growing as the move drew near. Brown said even during the shutdown of the old branch to move the collection, the Monett branch still had the highest numbers in the system over the transition.

“We’ve added a significant number of titles,” Brown said, more than doubling the number of books and other materials. “There was no place to fit that many books on the shelves at the old branch. We continue adding. The way a library works, the books on the shelves don’t just stay there. If they’re not checked out, the ‘weeding’ process removes them. A library collection is always changing and updating. It’s a never-ending process.”

The challenge in building a new library was to make an inviting, creative space that encourages exploration, discovery and sustained visits. In many ways, the new Monett library meets those goals. Brown noted that while the old library had become cramped and had black as a major color theme, from its shelves to its window frames, the new library has substantially open spaces, white shelves and a brighter ambiance.

“The Teen Zone is generally cool, with a cyber-lounge vibe,” Brown said. “The teen area has tripled in size.