Crawford breaks ground for new library

CRAWFORD—Where an empty gravel parking lot in Crawford once was, a brand-new building, with books and computers will soon be.

About 50 people gathered on the site of the future Crawford Community Library Thursday morning, to celebrate the groundbreaking and applaud those responsible for making the dream become a reality.

“Crawford was once known as the little town that reads,” Keith Nichols said during the groundbreaking ceremony. “Today, we will be called the little down that digs.”

Nichols, the director of the Library Foundation, organized and planned the building of the library with the help of eight board members.

Board members, residents, Delta County Commissioner Olen Lund and Crawford Mayor Jim Cook joined the celebration.

“This project has been a dream for nine years,” Library Foundation board member Ellie Goldstein said. “In the past three years, we finally started getting serious and raising money.”

Goldstein said the Library Foundation board members debated whether to stay in the current library, which is located in Town Hall. But it was decided the area inside Town Hall was too small to meet the needs of the people of Crawford.

The new library will be a one-story building and will provide high-speed Internet access, increased office space, works by local artists, a children’s area and a meeting room.  The new building will also give a home to boxes and boxes of books that are currently in storage because of the lack of space in the current library.

The Delta County Library District has ownership of the new library. The Crawford Library Foundation helped to raise funds for the construction.

“The Delta County library district is really unique in Colorado, in that it has five full- service libraries in the county, with the population of 30,000,” said John Moore, vice president of the Delta County LIbrary District Board.

Don Mitchell, project manager for builder Weslin, LLC, said the library is being built to meet environmentally friendly standards, including a geothermal heating and cooling system.

“There will be green-based material (in the new library),” Mitchell said. “Primarily the geothermal system is the big plus for this building.”

Nichols said that although the library foundation has received thousands of dollars in donations and grants from the county, it has still come up a little bit short in funds. He explained that though original financial expectations were met eight years ago, funding needs have changed. Money is still needed for furniture and other necessities.

“But everyone tells us that once we start digging, donations will start coming in again, and we have our hopes,” Nichols said.

Construction on the new library is set to be finished by the end of February 2008.

Contact Marissa Brunner via e-mail at marissab@montrosepress.com