The Daniel Boone Regional Library and the Holts Summit Community Empowerment Foundation signed an agreement Thursday to open a library in Holts Summit in 2019.
Mitzi St. John, public relations manager for DBRL, said in an email the official opening date and hours for the Holts Summit Public Library are to be determined. The library will be located in the Summit Plaza, inside a space renovated by the HSCEF to entice a library system to open a branch at the location.
St. John said DBRL will be ordering new books for the library, using $35,000 from the Keckley Endowment Fund, which was established to purchase new materials for libraries in Callaway County. Duplicate copies of titles in other DBRL branches will also be added to the Holts Summit Public Library’s collection.
The branch will include computers with an online connection, wireless internet access, and programs for adults and children.
Until the library opens, bookmobile stops will continue in Holts Summit, St. John added. The Library-To-Go lockers and book drop will be moved to the new facility in time for its opening.
DBRL accepted a letter of intent from HSCEF in August to offer the space for a new library. The organizations have been working on a final agreement since.
The letter of intent included HSCEF offering the location rent free for the first two years. According to the letter, the space is 6,700 square feet and monthly rent would be valued at $5,000 per month. DBRL Executive Director Margaret Conroy has said a new branch would have been impossible without the rent being waived.
“Daniel Boone and the Callaway County Board of Trustees have long wanted to increase our service level in Holts Summit, but we have just been limited by our tax income,” Conroy said after the DBRL Board of Trustees meeting in August.
“We have not … actually budgeted for service in Holts Summit prior to this offer, so when the offer came to us of a space — that rent would be covered for two years — we took a really hard look at our budget and our reserves to try and see what we could do.”
Conroy has said a new branch would not be sustainable without a tax increase, and DBRL is considering putting a tax levy increase in Callaway County on the April 2020 ballot.