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Fayetteville Public Library Set To Expand After Finalizing Purchase Of Land

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) — The Fayetteville Public Library officially purchased the four acres where the former city hospital sits, allowing them to finally be...

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) -- The Fayetteville Public Library officially purchased the four acres where the former city hospital sits, allowing them to finally begin their expansion.

Durrell Green works from home so he comes to the library around five times a week. He said it's a great place to focus.

“We have seen growing pains that we are experiencing here. Northwest Arkansas is always growing and so I think it's important that we be proactive instead of reactive in terms of making sure our library is up to par with the population that it's going to be serving,” Green said.

The library plans to build on the two acres adjacent current to the current library. This 80,000 square foot expansion will almost double the current size of the library.

Library Executive Director David Johnson said one of the things in this new space will be a children's center that will be double the size of their current one.

“We're going to need to add many more places for people to meet, to gather, to collaborate together...more study rooms. We need to look at and make sure we have rooms for makers spaces and fabrication places where people can come and actually make things,” Johnson said.

Johnson said they are also looking at adding a multipurpose center.

“We have many occasions where we have five, six, seven hundred people coming to events at the library and we aren't equipped for that. We always have to shut down part of the library and move all the furniture out and bring in the chairs and that takes the library from the community," he said.

The library will be hosting a public input session in August to find out what people in the community want to see the library do with this expansion.

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