Friends of the Summit County Library are fundraising for the new Kamas Branch
Money will be used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment, including a 3D printer
(Tanzi Propst/Park Record)
The progress of the construction on the Kamas County Service Building, which will house the Kamas Valley Branch of the Summit County Library, is evident to anyone who drives by the site.
While completion of the towering two-story building it is still a couple months away, library officials have already begun planning how to fill the significantly larger space.
More than 6,000-square feet in the new facility will be dedicated to the Kamas library and will include an auditorium, computer lab and larger, more varied spaces for adults, children and teens.
The building will accommodate offices for the county health department, Department of Motor Vehicles, and Valley Behavioral Health, in addition to a new senior center, a 1,900-square-foot space for public meetings and an 800-square-foot computer classroom. All the services that were housed in the Kamas County Service Building were relocated to temporary locations throughout Kamas after the building was demolished.
However, Library Director Dan Compton said “money is pretty tight for the project.” Compton, with the help of the Friends of the Summit County Library, is hoping to raise money in coming weeks to purchase new technology for the facility.
“We can move over our old technology into the new space, but we don’t want to do that,” Compton said. “We want everything to be brand new, up-to-date under the latest technology standards.
“Right now our libraries pretty much have the basics like public computer access, Wifi and digital sources people can use,” he said. “But, we don’t have a 3D printer and Park City Library has done a great job and we want to follow their lead and create things like that in the community, especially for Kamas.”
Items that the Friends of the Summit County Library plan to purchase with the funds raised include:
- 10 new public computers and monitors: $8,000
- Two desktop publishing workstations: $4,000
- 12 Chromebooks for Coding Club and other programming: $2,500
- Laptop charging cart: $500
- 3D Printer: $2,500
- Prenda Coding Club license: $2,500
- Microsoft Office Suite for public computers: $480
- Adobe Cloud software: $1,000
- Analog to digital video converter ($75)
- VHS/DVD Player: $200
- DVD/CD Ripbox: $500
- Photo scanner: $200
- Lynda.com license (20 concurrent seats): $7,000
“Although the Summit County Council approved funding of the new facility, budgetary demands have limited the funding to the basic building structure,” said Marilynn Cowley, president of Friends of the Summit County Library. “Our organization has a goal to raise $30,000 to help fund many of the technology items not provided in the library’s budget.”
Donations can be made online at https://pages.donately.com/friendsofsummitcountylibrary/campaign/kamas-valley-branch-library#/. As of Tuesday, $3,330 had been raised by 31 donors. Those who contribute a minimum of $25 will be recognized at the new facility with a plaque or on the donor’s recognition wall.
Depending on the donations that are received, Compton said, everything may not be purchased before the facility is opened to the public, which is expected to take place before the end of the year.
“If we do fall short, we will keep fighting and do whatever we can,” he said. “This is an opportunity for people to invest in their library. When people do invest, it becomes theirs. We want to put this new technology in the building for people to get excited about it. We think we can do better than bringing over our older equipment.”
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