Troy explores new library building/renovation options

TROY — During the 2023-24 fiscal year the Troy Public Library circulated over 1,000,000 items.

That’s an average of 3,000 checkouts per day, and on average, every resident of Troy checks out 12 items a year from the library, located at 510 W. Big Beaver Road. During that same time period, the library saw around 344,000 visitors.

“One million checkouts is a milestone number for any library serving a community the size of Troy,” Phillip Kwik, assistant director, said in a press release. “We are especially proud to reach this number, as it is our most checkouts since the pre-COVID year of 2019.”

Library Director Emily Dumas said they want to express their thanks to all the Troy residents who use and support their public library.

“I can say for a fact that physical books are still king,” Dumas said in an email. “Sometimes people think that no one reads physical books anymore, and only check out digital ebooks, but at Troy Public Library physical books still out-circulate ebooks by a wide margin.”

The library offers a variety of physical books, audiobooks and e-books, as well as board games and activity kits for all ages.

Dumas said youth books circulate the most, calling Troy’s  youth collection “phenomenal.”

“But the higher circulation also accounts for kids’ books usually being shorter and many more are checked out at a time than longer adult books,” Dumas said in an email.

Library materials such as books, audiovisual materials, e-books, databases, and all other circulating items generally come from the library’s dedicated millage funds.  In 2020, Troy voters approved a dedicated library millage of 1.1 mils for a 10-year term.

“To make decisions about what items to purchase we use a collection development policy and best practices that staff are trained on,” Dumas said in an email. “People can also make monetary donations and ask that the funds be used to purchase for the collection.”

There is some interest in expanding their collections to a “Library of Things,” which refers to circulating items like telescopes, gardening tools, and GoPro action cameras and more that patrons can check out. The library does not have the space for such a collection expansion currently, staff said, but that may change within a few years.

In 2023, the library hired an outside firm called ReThinking Libraries to assess the current state of Troy’s library and to help them create an improvement plan for the library for the next five years. ReThinking Libraries is a national library consulting firm focused on strategic planning, and facility assessment and design. ReThinking Libraries was awarded the consultant job through the competitive bid process at $28,000.

“We went through the competitive bid process, and we were fortunate enough to hire ReThinking Libraries to be our consultants on this project,” Dumas said in a presentation of the Troy Public Library’s 2024-2028 High-Level Strategic Plan during the Troy City Council’s June 10 meeting. “They have engaged the community like I have never seen before, and I can truly say that every member of the public and every member of the staff has had an opportunity to have a voice in this plan.”

ReThinking and the Troy library distributed a survey that allowed community members to give their feedback on how people use the library space, where library amenities could improve and what they would like to see at the library. Over 2,700 people gave responses to the survey. Through feedback from the survey as well as input from other members of the public and library staff, library officials said there is a strong desire for more space for varied library collections and more space for recreational activities for library patrons of all ages.

The building’s current size, at around 50,000 square feet, as well as the aging state of the building makes it hard to implement major improvements. The south side of the building was the original library and was built in 1971. In 1984 the north addition was added.

“The staff areas in particular, I think that’s one of the biggest areas where this library is really deficient and causing issues that aren’t always seen,” Robert Cullen, a representative with ReThinking Libraries, said during the Troy City Council’s June 10 meeting.

“What we realized early on was that the realities of our outdated and deteriorating infrastructure can’t be ignored,” Dumas said.

Through the assessment, the suggested options are to consider improvements and an expansion of the current building, or getting a completely new library building.

There is a strong push for a new library building.

“Yes, you’ve been making some investments, but … it’s as multiple people said across the community engagement,” Cullen said. “There’s been a lot of lipstick put on the pig. It’s maybe time to get a new pig.”
 

Some of the options:
• Improvements to the existing 50,000-square-foot building with no expansions would likely cost around $10 million-$19 million.

• Expanding the existing building to around 60,000 to 75,000 square feet, as well as fully renovating the building, could cost $20 million-$35 million.

• A completely new and expanded building, likely over 90,000 square feet, within the Civic Center complex would likely cost $29 million-$39 million.

• A completely new and expanded building, over 90,000 square feet, outside of the Civic Center complex could cost $33 million-$43 million.

“The community expressed a strong preference to us that the library stay in the civic complex area,” Cullen said.

To further explore these possibilities, the city was advised to conduct a full Community Needs Assessment and Facility Feasibility Study, to continue engaging with the community, and to look into potential fundraising options.

City Council members have begun to further assess the possibilities.

“We are fortunate to have recently completed a comprehensive Strategic Plan for our beloved Troy Public Library — which remains our most visited community gathering place,” Troy Mayor Ethan Baker said in an email. “After receiving the plan and an accompanying report, Troy City Council held a public Study Session where a thoughtful and thorough conversation resulted in additional information being sought from City Administration, including what it would take to build a new Library for our City. Council recognizes Troy has many pressing capital needs and we look forward to receiving more information in the coming months, as we continue to plan the City of Troy’s long term capital projects.”

Visit troypl.org or troypl.org/information/learn/2024-28_strategic_plan.php for more information, or call (248) 524-3538.