Everett Library Director Deborah Abraham appeared before the Common Council Monday night to answer questions about the planned Shute Library construction.
According to Abraham, library officials and project managers have been busy working behind the scenes, “on construction development and plan review” for several months. As a result, she was able to inform the Council about most of the specifics of the planned year-long construction project, and measures that will be taken to continue serving Shute Library patrons, plans for library staff and mitigation measures for affected neighborhoods.
“The Everett Housing Authority has generously agreed to offer us space. . .at 21 Whittier Drive,” which will serve as a ‘mini-library’ during the construction project., and will aim to serve many of the residents who currently use Shute Library although with ‘scaled back’ services.
The service provided at the mini-library will include, “two to three public access computers, popular library materials and the ability to borrow books from Parlin Library and other lending libraries in the Everett network.
Abraham also told the Council that no library staff will be laid off during the construction period and library officials are looking closely at traffic and neighborhood mitigation for the Whittier Street neighborhood, which will likely see more traffic than it is accustomed to during the construction project.
The Shute Library project is expected to go out for general construction bids in mid or late June, with construction to begin in August. The temporary mini-library will be set-up in late July, as the Shute Library is being closed for the project. There may be a one week or so lapse between the closing of the Shute Library and the opening of the temporary library on Whittier.
Abraham noted that Shute Library staff will be assigned to work at either temporary library or the Parlin Library during construction to assist with the additional patrons who will be using those facilities.
“The majority of the (Shute) collection will be moved to storage for the duration of the project,” added Abraham.
The construction inside the Shute Library is expected to take 10-12 months.