The Steering Committee for the Southeast Library (SCSEL) to be located on Mary Ann Cleveland Highway will have a booth at the Friday, February 3rd fireworks celebration at Hacienda del Lago.
Members of the Southeast Library Steering Committee attended the annual Pima County Library Retreat at the Oro Valley Library in the rolling foothills of Oro Valley. Pictured under the “tree of knowledge” is from left to right J. J. Lamb, Ethan Hurley, Mike Hyre, Edward Buster and Anne Gibson.
The purpose of the booth is to share preliminary drawings by the architect firm of Burns Wald-Hopkins Shambach, hired by Pima County to design the 9,000 square foot library. The library will be located on land owned by Pima County and originally designated in the master plan for the Esmond Station Regional Park for a sheriff substation.
The library is now in the phase of reaching out to the community to allow community input on the design of the library. In addition to the booth at Colossal Fourth’s Friday event, SCSEL Committee Co-chair Ethan Hurley will send an email in May to students attending Cienega and Empire High Schools and Esmond Station K-8 schools. These schools were selected due to their close proximity to the library site.
A new library in the Vail community can have many positive impacts on the town as a whole. For children and families in Vail, a library will promote bonding in families and brain development in kids. Having access to a high-quality library will also instill a love of reading in Vail children, said Erin O’Brien. Erin O’Brien is a 16-year old sophomore at Cienega High School.
Committee Co-Chair Edward Buster says the plans also include some public meetings with Pima County Library Director Amber Mathewson, members of her staff, and members of the architectural firm. In a conversation with Michelle Simon, a Pima County Library staffer, she confirmed that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the library should open in the Fall of 2019, and the request to protect the integrity of the history of our area was being met.
Several members of the committee attended a Pima County Library Retreat on Saturday, May 5th, at the Oro Valley Library in preparation for the July 3rd public meeting. The attendance was to learn more about the organization of Friends programs, foundations, and how to better serve their communities from members of the Pima Library Advisory Board, Friends of Libraries groups, and Library Foundations.
