Checks are in the mail for library building fund

By Debbie Ingram

Published: July 15, 2008

The checks are trickling in.

“It’s really been fun to open the mail,” said Bettye Forbus, director of the Houston-Love Memorial Library.

“Most days we get at least one donation. Monday we got four. They aren’t huge amounts but there are lots of $100 checks.”

From the $100 checks to the loose change deposited in the piggy banks on the counter of the circulation desk, library supporters are proud of each donation as they embark on a major capital campaign to raise several million dollars to go toward the construction of a new library building to be located somewhere downtown.

The checks received the last few weeks are coming after the city placed flyers in with Dothan Utility bills. Forbus said the library has also put up billboards soliciting contributions and Friends of the Library are seeking to address the memberships of various civic clubs and other groups.

“We are optimistic of the support we will get from the city and the county, but we know that will not pay for everything and must be supplemented by private donations,” Forbus said.

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How to donate:

Make checks made payable to the Houston-Love Memorial Library, P.O. Box 1369, Dothan, AL 36302. Designate for the building fund. Building accounts are set up at Compass, Mid-South, and Wachovia banks.

See plans at: http://www.newdothanlibrary.com

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Melisa Hall is the mother of three small children. She and her husband, Gerald, moved to Dothan recently from Indiana, by way of Eufaula. Hall said she has not made it to the Dothan library yet, but plans to soon.

“I have heard about all the opportunities they have for children,” she said. “I think a library is very important, especially for children. My oldest, Garrett, just seeing him learning how to read, and seeing the excitement he gets walking in the library, is gratifying.

“Even our 3- and 2-year-old children, I sit and read with them all the time. I think it is important for them to grow up going to the library where they can pick out their own books.”

Garrett will start first grade next month at Girard Elementary.

Forbus hopes the library will always be able to meet the needs of families like the Halls, but a lot of donations are needed before ground can be broken on a new building.

Preliminary designs drawn up by Davis Architects of Birmingham, in conjunction with local architect Mike Lee, estimate the cost of a new facility at $16.5 million. Construction alone is $14 million, with another $2.5 million designated for furnishings, equipment, and landscaping.

The City of Dothan gave the library $60,000 toward preliminary architectural fees. Architects were selected last fall.

Forbus said contributions show broad support for a new library. She said a lot of the donors are not regular library users.

“I know most of our regular patrons,” she said. “Checks are coming in from people I don’t even know. They see the value of a new library for the city and county whether they are regular users or not.”

Forbus said that is exactly the point.

“We want everyone to feel like they have a part of this new library,” she said. “We want this library to be everybody’s library.”

In drawing up a facility, Lee has undertaken a space needs assessment, talked with staff and the library board, to help decide what areas need to be next to what. The space design is based on 20-year population projections.

The library has never has such planning, in that it has always been retro-fitted into existing space at what was the old Minnie T. Heard Elementary School. The building has occupied the site since 1940. The library sits at the site of the original Dothan High School building which was torn down in 1939.

The City of Dothan and Houston County have both pledged support to the project, but neither board has formally voted to contribute to a new library. A work session with both entities was held in June.

The library board is asking the city for $12 million and the county for $2 million. There is some belief that more money could be forthcoming from the county through charitable electronic bingo funds at the Country Crossing development to be constructed just off U.S. 231 south of Dothan. The developer has pledged a minimum of $2 million annually from bingo proceeds to charity.
The city’s contribution would most likely come from a bond issue.

No property has been acquired for the library but Forbus likes a downtown location because of its central access.