Mount Pleasant’s first public library opened in 1910 and underwent many changes over the year to meet the changing needs our residents.  The original Veterans Memorial Library building was built in 1957.  The building was expanded in the mid 1980’s into to what we see today.  In 1998 the Veterans Memorial Library was reorganized as the Chippewa River District Library with a district branch in Rosebush.  In response to the demands of our growing community, the former Mt. Pleasant Post Office was purchased in 2003, attached to the Veterans Memorial Library, and named the Library Annex.

The “District” of your Chippewa River District Library roughly follows the boundaries of the Mt. Pleasant Public Schools, serving over 43,000 in-district residents with the Veterans Memorial Library in Mt. Pleasant and Faith Johnston Memorial Library in Rosebush.  Through a contract with Isabella County, the Chippewa River District Library also provides library services to branches in Shepherd, Winn, Weidman, and Blanchard, bringing the total population served to almost 64,000 residents.  Currently operating on 1.6894 mils through 2008 (originally 1.75 but reduced due to Headlee rollback), your Chippewa River District Library returns over $4 in services for every $1 spent (see Fast Facts).

In addition to a growing collection of books, magazines, reference materials, CD’s, and DVD’s; your Chippewa River District Library provides free on-line access to local collections (over 111,000 items), access to materials at our partner libraries (over 260,000 items), and access to a statewide catalog, MelCat (over 24 million items).  We provide free internet access.  You can enroll in free computer classes in the Computer Training Center.  You can participate in programs ranging from Story Time for the pre-schoolers, Financial Planning for the adults, to Jazz and More at the Library for everyone.  Your Chippewa River District Library takes a rotating mobile collection to seven different senior care facilities in our community for those who can’t travel to the library.  Facing an 11% illiteracy rate in Isabella County, your Chippewa River District Library is also proud to continue literacy assistance for adults and families.

We propose to expand your Chippewa River District Library with a two-story addition in place of the current Library Annex and a renovation of the current Veterans Memorial Library.  Utilizing the space efficiently will allow for increased parking and an all-hours drive-thru for easy drop off and pick up of materials.  We will have a quiet reading area, a café, separate children’s and teen areas, and more space for ever increasing collections. 

Within the proposed new building we will utilize smart technologies to increase access to materials and expand opportunities for programming.  These technologies will allow us to maximize bandwidth to open gateways to information and resources.  We will be able to provide a community space that supports a wide variety of library programming, meeting space and other activities to support community learning, culture, and growth.

Construction of a new library will cost approximately $8,500,000.  The goal of our Next Page Capital Campaign is to raise $500,000 of that.  It is proposed that the remainder of construction costs and on-going operation expenses will be covered by a property millage request of up to 2.6 mils for twenty years.  The proposed election would be in May 2008 with the first levy in 2009.  This proposed new millage will take the place of our current millage of 1.75 mills that will expire at the end of 2008.  Currently a home with a market value of $120,000 is paying approximately $101.36 a year for library services.  The increase would cost the same home approximately $156.00 a year, or an increase of about $54.64 annually. 

If the millage request is approved by the voters then building plans can be finalized and arrangements can be made to provide for library services during the renovations.  Construction could begin as early as April 2009 with expected completion date in summer 2010.

Click for the Next Page capital campaign naming opportunities...