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Boyd County Public Library will begin construction soon on a new branch at the Kyova Mall on U.S. 60, now that the parties have agreed to and signed a 10-year lease.
 
Board President Michael Campbell and mall officials signed the lease late last week, and Library Director Debbie Cosper picked up the keys to the 6,200 square foot space on Friday.
“We are thrilled to be opening a branch in the Kyova Mall. The increased space will allow for a state-of-the-art branch, expanded services and a place to do much more programming,” Cosper said. “We are positioning the library to serve the needs of the community for the next decade, or longer.”
“This is a great opportunity for the community, the library and the mall,” said Chrissy Dillow, the mall’s general manager. “The library branch furthers our move toward becoming a lifestyle center in that we can offer more than just retail to our community.”
A branch in the mall means more convenience for the consumer/library patron. “We are putting a library branch right in their path, as they do their shopping, or go out to eat or to a movie,” Cosper said. Having libraries in a mall, aka lifestyle center, is a slowly emerging national trend. In communities where it’s been done, libraries have reported huge upswings in the number of items checked out, and the number of story times and other programs offered each week. “It is a great way to reintroduce the library to some families,” Cosper said.
The American Library Association does not have a comprehensive list of how many libraries are in malls or shopping centers, but its informal tally is about two dozen such branches, according to a July report. There are also a handful of libraries in art centers, museums and even apartment buildings.
The BCPL Kyova Branch will be located across from Elder-Beerman and near the Sears anchor store. The new location will give the library an additional 2,000 square feet of floor space than in its current building on Summit Road. The added space means more room for programming, materials and computers. The mall location will also have increased parking and will be more visible to people than the current branch, which is located on Summit Road across from Boyd County Middle School.
The Summit location will become an outreach center, housing materials for the homebound and other outreach programs and services. A books-by-mail service is also being discussed. “We anticipate being able to reach many more people in Boyd County through outreach programs by having a center dedicated to those services,” Cosper said.
The Library is getting to work immediately on putting the project out for bids. An opening date depends on how quickly everything can come together – either late this year or early next. When it opens, the Kyova Branch will have the same hours as the mall: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. That is an additional 12 hours per week (than the current branch), including two additional nights and Sunday.
The mall branch will be very contemporary, and will house an extensive collection of popular materials for adults and children. There will be a large space for meeting room(s) and programming, and at least double the number of computers and laptops. BCPL anticipates hiring 8-10 new staff members over the course of the next few months, to staff the Kyova Branch and expanded outreach services, and handle the increased demands on other departments.
“All of this is being done with one goal in mind: to serve more people in our community, and to serve them in the best way possible,” Cosper said.
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