Shovels and books never had much in common – until now.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Morgan Hill library will take place this Saturday, and organizers are inviting families to bring a shovel and help out.
“We’ve waited a long time for our new library,” said Carol O’Hare, president of the Friends of the Morgan Hill Library, which is planning the event along with the City of Morgan Hill. “Now we want to really celebrate the start of construction and invite all library supporters to join in the fun.”
Although the event’s focus will be on the new library, other activities are planned such as music, refreshments, prizes and giveaways. For children, there will be root-beer floats and a treasure hunt for surprises. Morgan Hill’s Fabulous Flappers, a group of older women who tap dance, will give a demonstration of the Charleston. Special guests invited to the event include Morgan Hill city officials and other local dignitaries.
The groundbreaking event also will help kick off the Friends’ fund-raising project to raise at least $250,000 for furnishings and art for the new library, O’Hare said.
The new $19 million library, planned to open in the summer of 2007, will include an expanded library program room, an expansive lobby area, a soft-seating area in the children’s section, an expanded international languages area and twice as many public computers as the current library.
That library, located at 17575 Peak Ave., will likely be renovated for use for Morgan Hill City Hall, O’Hare said. It encompasses 14,000 square feet. The new library will be twice as big.
The current library collection contains about 152,000 items, and library officials expect it to remain about the same size in the new library. This includes items in about 15 different languages. Roughly 16 percent of the collection is media, and about 40 percent of the library’s circulation consists of children’s materials.
