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A NEWPUBUC LIBRARY FOR SAN MARCOS. . . Exciting plans are now being made for a new public library to serve San Marcos. TheLibrary Board recently selected H idellArc hitects. of Dallas to develop preliminary designs for a 27,(}()0 square"¡oot cenJrallibrary. The new building has been designed to replace our existingfacility. Its development will help insure that the citiu:ns.ofSanMarcoscontinue to have high quality library services andfacilities well into the 21st century. The Library Board and' the Friends of the Library have also formed a Citizens' Committeefora N ewLibrary. Thepurposes, of the committee are to raise funds' to help furnish and, equip the new facility and to campaignfora successful library bond issue. WHY DOES . THE CITY NEED A NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY? The San MarcosPublicLibrary isa 12,074 square-footfacilitywhich was constructed in 1966. The library is just.57% oft he space standards rec- ommended by the American Library Association for libraries serving communities of our size. When weftrst opened our doors for service over 22 years ago. the library collection consistedof7,9()O books. We now have over 57.000 books; 1,200 records and tapes; 350films.filmstripsandvídeocassettes; as well as a rapidly growing local history cbllection. Each year. we add approxi- mately 6.000 new items to tÝæ library collection and two large shelving units to house tÝæm. . We estimate thalin four more years. sht!lvingfor the library collecJion will have displaced most bfour reading and study areas in the library. Use of the library collection has also grown dramatically over the years. This year people wiU borrow over 210.000 items from the library. Another9.400willattendstoryhours.tutoring sessions and other library programs: and .13.000 wül use the library' s .reference and interlibrary loan services. All this activity creates a great deal of noise and places heavy demands on our reading and study areas.. As a result our patrons are complaining that there are no longer any quiet study areas in tht! library. Lackofworlcspa¡;e is another majorproblemfacing the library. When the libraryfu-sl opened in 1966. we hadasu4fofthree employees. Our staff has now grown to includeftfteen paid employees and numerous volun- teers who are working under extremely crowded conditions. To accom- modate the growing staff. weare having to convert library study space into office areas. In summary. the library is now facing a critical shortage of work space. she1vingspaceand te(JIÙr spa¡;e. If we are to continue providing the community with an efficiently operated andpleasanJ iibraryenviron- menJ. we must expand our facilities.