Strolling through the renovated post office building in North Little Rock that opens this week as the William F. Laman Public Library System’s new Argenta Branch, Jeff Baskin marveled over the natural light that fills the historic structure.
“The building has a lot of light now,” said Baskin, executive director for the library system. “We uncovered a lot of the windows that had been covered up. We uncovered the high windows that we didn’t even know existed.
“Every time I go in here, I’m impressed.”
The relocated branch, 420 Main St., will be open to the public starting Monday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. A grand opening will occur at 10 a.m. Saturday with various activities and giveaways throughout the day. A schedule of events is available at lamanlibrary.org.
The former Argenta Branch, 506 Main St., closed in January so employees could start relocating its books and other materials. The $3.5 million renovation of the 83-year-old post office building began in August. The cost includes the $775,000 purchase price.
When patrons enter the huge front door, held over from the post office days, they will immediately see a first-floor reading area in the lobby. An atrium allows light to shine into the lobby from the elongated, second-floor windows.
A glassed-in, L-shaped gallery area to the right of the front entrance will display small exhibits free to the public, a scaled-down version of the more elaborate exhibitions that have grown popular at the main library, 2801 Orange St. The first exhibit will showcase photographs of early North Little Rock.
Renovations included adding an elevator on the building’s south end, near the gallery, to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, Baskin said. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The back of the building has another public entrance, off a former loading dock that will be used for artistic performances and outdoor concerts. Inside will be a break-room area for patrons to buy snacks and soft drinks from vending machines. An idea to include a small cafe in that space didn’t materialize, Baskin said.
“We didn’t want to go into competition with the local restaurants,” Baskin explained. “We’ll put in vending machines and a coffee machine and have some tables and chairs back here.”
A plan for the basement changed as work progressed and library officials heard from patrons about their preferences, Baskin said.
“We were going to have the Arkansas Genealogy and History Room down here, but the patrons didn’t like that idea,” Baskin said. “The genealogy people really wanted it to stay at the main library. So we cut that space here in half to use for storage.”
The library’s railroad history collection - relating the strong connection between railroads and North Little Rock’s formation - will take up the other half of that space, moving from the main library “slowly but surely,” Baskin said.
“A lot of those books have been in storage and all the documents and pamphlets have been in storage,” and will be made available in the new branch, he said. “It will allow an in-depth collection for people who can do research on our railroad history. But it will take some time to move over here.”
The basement also contains a 135-seat auditorium for library-sponsored programs. A second meeting room with seating for about 40 will be available to rent from the library.
On the second floor is a children’s library and, in a raised, loft-like area, 25 highspeed computers are available for public use. Seating just outside the computer room is equipped with outlets for personal computers and smartphones to be used or charged.
“We think that will be a pretty popular spot,” said Dan Noble, the library system’s public-relations manager. “There are outlets downstairs, too. We’ll have Wi-Fi throughout the building.”
Standing on the second floor, Baskin stopped to linger at the railing above the open space overlooking the first floor that gives the library its airy atmosphere.
“This is one of my favorite spots,” Baskin said. “People can see down and they can see up. I think kids will love it up here. It’s bright and cheerful. It really opens up the building, too.”
The North Little Rock City Council loaned the library system money to buy the building in August 2012 - since repaid - because the library system wasn’t able to come up with the cash in the short time the U.S. Postal Service allowed for the building’s sale. The library is now paying off a 10-year bond issue from December 2012 through the city’s Public Building Authority. The post office closed in June 2012.
Brooke Hadder, who joined the library system in November after moving from the public library system in Washington, D.C., will continue as the Argenta Branch manager.
The former branch location had about 2,500 square feet, compared with usable space in the post office building of about 15,000 square feet, Baskin said. Even so, turning that extra space into a functional library was more difficult than it might seem, he said.
“We had to compact things, move things around and work with the building,” Baskin said. “I didn’t know what would be the location for certain things. It sort of all fell into place. And it’s finally almost done.”
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 03/30/2014