Major renovations on two Barry County libraries, including the Cassville Branch Library, have been planned for the months ahead and will require closings.

Gina Milburn, director of the Barry-Lawrence Regional Library, reported the Eagle Rock branch will close for Thanksgiving on Nov. 27 and remain closed until Jan. 5. Planned work includes laying new carpet over the floor of the old schoolhouse housing the branch, painting and rewiring the network cabling.

“When you look up, the wiring is one of the first things you see,” Milburn said. “We’ll try to cover the cables and tidy up. We’re hoping to run wires into the basement. We’ll see what the company we contract says.”

Laying carpet will require moving all the shelving. Milburn hoped additional work on the flooring would not be needed.

Next up is the Cassville branch, targeted for late winter, possibly February. Like Eagle Rock, the Cassville work will entail moving all the shelving to replace all the flooring with either carpet or luxury vinyl plank that looks like wood. That will involve 90 percent of the flooring on the main level. Painting will follow, along with some new lounge furniture.

An additional major project involves reducing the genealogy room that hardly gets any use.

“We’ve been housing the Barry County Genealogy and Historical Society’s books,” Milburn said. “Even the genealogy computer has been maintained. It seems that so many people use Ancestry that they’re not using the book resources like they used to. This is prime real estate. If it’s not being used, we need study space.”

The plan calls for subdividing the genealogy space with new study spaces, glassed-in rooms for two or three people with a table. Milburn said people come in seeking space for tutoring, talking to foster children or meeting tax clients. Study spaces like the ones at the Monett branch will address that need.

The estate of Lisa Peterson will make the Cassville branch work possible. Peterson left a large part of her estate to the library, providing funds from dividends for various needs. Planned work this time is expected to run around $50,000.

With renovations on the administration office in Monett completed, the library board has two other locations targeted for improvements. The biggest will be the new Shell Knob branch. Milburn said Shell Knob patrons liked the proposal unveiled in a public meeting that called for demolishing the current branch and rebuilding across the same space, staying in the Bridgeway Plaza, expanding over two lots close to the corner where a furniture store had once been.

“It will look like a lake house,” Milburn said. “It will all be on one level.”

That project will wait on funding, she continued. Presently, the branch has approximately $350,000 in pledges for the new branch. Estimates project the proposal will cost $2.5 million.

A recent lawsuit regarding a land donation for a new Shell Knob library being returned has been adjudicated, with the judge ruling in the Library system’s favor.

Another project that has funds but no plan yet is in Aurora. The Carnegie Corporation of New York, in honor of the 250th year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, has awarded $10,000 to each of approximately 1,280 libraries funded by Andrew Carnegie that continue operating today. One of those is in Aurora.

Milburn expects funds to arrive in January. Discussions are underway on how to “do something special” at the Aurora branch with those funds.

General operations continue to run smoothly for the library district. Having had several weeks to settle into the renovated administration offices at Sixth and Broadway in Monett, Milburn said the staff remains very pleased with the outcome.

“We’re not on top of each other anymore,” she said. “The workflow is so much better. It’s wonderful to have the amount of space. We can all look out a window. We don’t have to listen to each other’s phone calls. Supplies aren’t crammed into four places. Paragon architects were fantastic to work with.”

The Monett branch continues to lead all nine branches in circulation, seeing more than 5,000 items checked out each month. Mt. Vernon and Cassville have switched back and forth, claiming second place. Aurora comes in fourth place. Milburn said the smaller branches continue operating much as they have for years.

The Monett branch has seen momentum continue in its new location. Milburn said the community room is seeing many rentals. A second part-time children’s librarian helps with younger children while the senior children’s librarian works with older children.

“I’ve talked to a lot of moms going to multiple story times, teen programs, and crafts,” Milburn said. “There’s even a dulcimer club.”

The library board decided in June to continue rotating its meeting locations in branches that have a meeting space. The next board meeting will be at the Cassville Branch Library on Nov. 20.

The board presently only has seven members and is seeking someone to represent Marionville. Milburn expressed regret that Charles Peiter, who represented Aurora on the board for 40 years, moved to Tulsa at his children’s request over the summer. That makes Monett representative Julie Vaughn as the longest serving board member.

The greatest concern facing the library service at present stems from the Missouri General Assembly talking about property tax reform. Milburn noted there are 2,000 special taxing districts in the state, from schools, road districts, fire districts, and libraries, dependent on property taxes.

The Missouri Special Districts Alliance organized in July to have a voice in what may come out of state lawmakers’ discussions.

She said there is heightened interest in pre-filing of bills in December to see what comes up for debate in the General Assembly’s next session.