By M. Scott Carter

Transcript Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY — While a new downtown library has been on the minds of Norman residents for several months now, it’s not the only new facility being planned by officials of the Pioneer Library System.

Another library — this one, a 20,000-square-foot facility — is being developed in far northwest Cleveland County.

That library, Pioneer Library System officials said, will be near the Moore Norman Career Tech center’s South Pennsylvania campus.

The library will be the 10th library in the Pioneer system, and is expected be completed well before a new Norman library is built.

It also won’t cost Cleveland County residents anything to build.

It works this way: Back in 2000, Oklahoma City voters passed a municipal bond issue. In that issue, $3.8 million was earmarked for a new south Oklahoma City library. A second bond issue, passed later, added another $2 million to the project.

Further, because a portion of south Oklahoma City lies in Cleveland County, the new library would be funded and built by Oklahoma City residents, but managed by the Pioneer Library System — not Oklahoma County’s Metropolitan Library System.

“We’re the ones who will furnish the books, computers and staff for the library,” said Teresa Dixson, Pioneer’s associate director for planning. “It will be located in south Oklahoma City and operated as a part of the Pioneer system.”

And the building process, Dixson said, has already started.

Though Dixson wasn’t sure when building funds will be available, Pioneer officials have met with Oklahoma City officials to select an architect and begin the construction planning process.

In addition, Dixson said land for the building was being purchased from the Moore Norman Technology Center.

“Right now they are in the process of buying 2.2 acres of land owned by Moore Norman,” she said. “The land is west of Pennsylvania Avenue and north of SW 134th Street.”

With the land purchase underway, Dixson said library officials are starting to gather public input about the facility. Those meetings will be coordinated by Lisa Wells, manager of Moore’s library.

“Basically, Lisa will coordinating the activities associated with that new library,” Dixson said. “She’ll be responsible for setting up those meetings, attending those meetings and gathering input from residents about what they want.”

Wells said she “looked forward” to the project.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m looking forward to being a part of the planning process.”

Wells said she will hold a series of public meetings to gather information and “get a feel” from the public about what they want from a new library.

“We want to learn what the public wants and balance that with what’s available for the budget,” she said.

And while Wells acknowledges a new south Penn library could cause a decline in the number of users at the nearby Moore library, she said that decline would only be temporary.

“Right now people from south Oklahoma City use Moore or the Southern Oaks library (operated by the Metropolitan Library System),” she said. “And when we open the south Oklahoma City branch, our numbers will trend down for a while. I expect that. But I don’t think it will stay that way for long.”

The south Oklahoma City area, she said, has an “immediate need” for a library.

“It probably won’t be as big as the Moore library, with that big of a collection,” she said. “But, again, we haven’t had any public meetings yet.”

Wells said she and other library officials have examined other libraries in the region to gather ideas. “We visited the Fayettville library,” she said. “We’re looking for new ways to provide better service.”

Part of those ideas could include changes in hours, more service access points and new technology and educational classes.

“We know our customers want more service points,” she said. “We know they are looking for more places where they can pick up and drop off books. We know they want longer hours, such as being open on Sunday — things like that.”

All those issues, she said, must be balanced against the system’s budget.

And Pioneer officials recently announced they need to increase that budget.

Funded by a four mill draw from county ad valorem taxes, Pioneer’s annual budget is about $7.5 million, said spokesman Gary Kramer.

Pioneer officials recently announced they want to increase that millage level to six mills — the maximum allowed by state law.

That increase, Kramer said, would cost a homeowner an extra $1.83 per month for a $100,000 home.

“The last library millage increase in Cleveland County was in 1990,” Kramer said. “And library millage has not increased in McClain and Pottawatomie counties since 1992.”

Pioneer’s Executive Director Anne Masters said the extra funds are needed because the system serves more than 188,000 customers.

“The part that goes to support the public library is actually the smallest percentage of the ad valorem tax,” Masters said. “Yet PLS public libraries serve the widest audience with more than 188,000 registered card holders of all ages.”

In addition, Masters said many communities have completed library expansions or are in the process of planning new public library buildings.

“With more and bigger facilities, we face the challenge of providing increased staff, materials and technologies to go in them,” she said.

Additionally, Masters said the increase is needed to fund an increase of services and materials.

“Our communities are telling us that they want their libraries to grow and they are proving it by undertaking library building projects. We want to honor those efforts by increasing the services and materials available in those libraries. To do that, we need to increase our funding levels.”

Cleveland County Commissioners have an item on Monday’s agenda calling for a May 13 election on the millage increase.