Journal News
Mount Kisco library finds interim location for reconstruction
By Sean Gorman
(Original publication: March 19, 2006)

MOUNT KISCO — Village officials plan to make the vacant Maple Avenue Community Center the temporary location where residents can borrow books and movies and get Internet access as crews raze and rebuild the Mount Kisco Public Library.

The interim spot will only be able to handle 15 percent of the library's current holdings, but officials are glad to have it.

"We'll have a functioning library," said Mayor J. Michael Cindrich. "We'll have a (computer) network with interface with the Westchester County Library System. We'll have computer terminals and other places for people to work. We're going to make it as effective as we can during the transition period."

"I think it's going to be very tight, but that we'll manage fine," said library director Susan Riley. "At least we know where we're going to be."

The library would move operations shortly before the demolition begins, but the start date remains unclear. Cindrich said he hoped the reconstruction project begins this year and estimated it would take 14 to 18 months.

Riley said village officials originally told her the project could start around October, but she wouldn't be surprised if it's later.

The plan is to demolish the 9,760-square-foot library at 100 Main St. and build another one — twice its size — on the same spot.

Village resident Marion Turk, who stopped by the library last week, was glad to learn she'd have a place to visit during the construction.

"You have to have an ongoing library," said Turk, 79. "That's a resource that a community absolutely needs."

The village once used the community center, at 55 Maple Ave., for recreation programs, but now it is only used to store books for the library's annual book sale.

Until the new 18,500-square-foot library opens, patrons will have to make do with an interim space that is less than a third the size of the present library.

The library has about 78,000 items, but only about 15 percent of the collection will be available at the community center, Riley said. She said it would include a sampling of most library offerings: fiction and non-fiction books, reference materials, children's books, a small collection of newspapers and magazines, digital video discs, compact discs, books on tape and videotapes.

Village officials plan to store the rest of the library's collection at the former Grand Union distribution center at 333 N. Bedford Road, on the Mount Kisco-Bedford Hills border. It would be inaccessible while there, Riley said.

The warehouse owner, Diamond Properties of Valhalla, is offering the space for a nominal charge.