Library plans to celebrate launch of ‘new’ building

Doors of the Whitman County Library building in Colfax will open Monday after a nine-month million dollar remodeling project. Doors will be open at 10 a.m.

The dedication ceremony will be next Wednesday, Aug. 11, at 7 p.m.

A new elevator, skylight, handicap accessible doors and windows, children’s reading area and other changes are the features of the remodeled building.

The library staff will have a newly remodeled second floor with carpeting, paint and office repairs.

“I’m just excited for the community to get back in and started,” said Kristie Kirkpatrick, director of Whitman County Library.

In the new children’s corner stands a sprawling artificial rain forest tree. Called Hayden’s Corner, the children’s corner is dedicated to the late Hayden Klaveano.

Hayden’s parents, Matt and Jill Klaveano, will be present at the dedication.

“They also felt like it represented Hayden’s interest when he was alive. He really loved the forest and animals,” said Kirkpatrick. Children attending the day of the dedication will recieve their own stuffed rainforest creature.

Several activities will be available for children at the Aug. 11 dedication.

Slinky the Clown and a Colfax fire truck will be on the scene from 10 a.m. to noon. Cheerleaders from Colfax High School will be painting faces from 1 to 4 p.m.

Also making its debut will be a new elevator, one of the major additions to provide access to the handicapped. The library’s basement social and meeting room has lacked handicapped access because the building was constructed before the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Library staff and a small percentage of library materials were relocated to several back rooms of the U.S. Bank last December. Staff has been working out of that office for all of 2010. When the construction wrapped up in June, library staff began cleaning and moving shelves. For most of the summer, library staff have been moving back into their former building and cleaning up the construction efforts.

Of the $1 million spent on the library, $550,000 came in the form of a 40-year community rural development loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA funds derived from stimulus funds in 2009. Another $115,000 came from a Washington state grant. The library also conducted a fund raising campaign to generate funds which were used to advance the grant process.

Blews Construction of Spokane was the general contractor on the project.

During the remodeling project, library staffers moved across Spring Street and carried on library services from the back of the US Bank Building.