EAST LANSING, Mich. — East Lansing Public Library (ELPL) Director Kristin Shelley announced at last Friday’s Books, Bites & Bids event that a $1.5 million anonymous donation has been made for capital improvements to the library.
She went on to announce that ELPL is launching a capital campaign in an effort to build upon the anonymous donor’s tremendous contribution. The goal is to raise an additional $1.6 to $2 million in matching community funds by May 2016 in order to renovate the entire ELPL building.
An architecture firm has already been selected for the project, Lansing-based C2AE, and a number of possible improvements have been discussed. Many of these proposed improvements will be dependent on the success of the capital campaign:
- dynamic, improved children’s area
- larger teen area with direct access to maker studio
- improvements to maker studio
- living room-style area
- Cyber Café
- automated book drop
- main service area
- vending area
- improved user flow
- reconfiguration of spaces (more open concept, less block-like space)
- improved meeting areas, community spaces
- additional data ports/outlets
- donor wall
“We are so thankful to our anonymous donor for helping get this project off the ground and we believe others in the community will see the value in investing in the future of their local library as well,” said ELPL Director Kristin Shelley. “This is truly exciting for the entire community, given that the last renovation of the East Lansing Public Library was almost 20 years ago. This project will allow the library to adapt to new technologies and continue to stay relevant for many years to come.”
Companies, organizations, institutions, businesses and/or individuals interested in donating to this exciting project are encouraged to contact ELPL Director Kristin Shelley at (517) 319-6913 or ELPL Executive Assistant to the Director Jen Amormino at (517) 319-6863.