Lake Travis library district launches fundraising campaign to build Spicewood branch
Krista Adler discovered the Lake Travis Community Library through a weekly story time for kids that helped introduce her to the library’s services. From her home in Briarcliff, it takes at least 25 minutes to reach the library in Lakeway, but it will soon be more convenient for Adler and her neighbors to access free books and community events.
The Lake Travis Community Library District plans to open a second location at 21209 Texas 71 in Spicewood before the end of the year to provide residents on the west side of the district easier access to free books, the internet and community events.
Adler, a mom of three who runs an architecture business with her husband, said that in addition to being closer, the location on Texas 71 will make it easier to casually stop in on trips to Bee Cave or Austin.
“I’m excited for when I’m driving down the road swinging in and seeing if there’s any new books I want to read,” she said.
The library district shares boundaries with the Lake Travis school district. About 50,000 people live in the district boundaries, but less than half of them live in the city of Lakeway, according to library Director Morgan McMillian.
“We need to get beyond the city limits to serve everybody that lives in our library district,” McMillian said.
The library district also has a bookmobile that helps serve communities farther from Lakeway. The small bus packed with books and equipped with Wi-Fi serves about 20 stops in various neighborhoods. Opening a second brick and mortar branch will reduce some of the reliance on the bookmobile, but it will continue to operate.
“It's an opportunity to meet the community where they are,” said Assistant Library Director Raj Kamat, who helps run the bookmobile.
In January 2023, the library district purchased the new location, which used to be a pizza restaurant. The 6,500-square-foot facility will house books, audiobooks, movies, computers, a scanner and a copier for public use and a community meeting room that can be reserved.
The district will hire more staff and recruit more volunteers to run the new library. Sales tax revenue that funds the library district will pay for the operations of the new facility, but the library is asking for donations to cover renovating the new location, which McMillian said has been more costly than anticipated. Naming rights are being offered for various rooms and areas of the new library.
Since launching the fundraising campaign in December, the library has raised more than $55,000, but it still has a long way to reach a $1 million goal. The renovation design is by Austin-based firm Ascension Architecture.
McMillian is hopeful that the community will continue to contribute and provide enough funding for the full renovation, allowing the new library branch to open by the end of 2024. She wants to create a vibrant new public space, and said the community appreciates having access to libraries.
“As much as we have adapted to a digital world," she said, "a lot of people still prefer print books, and we can give that to people for free.”
During the pandemic, the library began lending out Wi-Fi hotspots for people who did not have a strong internet connection at home. The hotspots remain a popular item, said Kamat, and a new branch will make it easier for rural residents to access hotspots and other items.
For more information, visit laketravislibrary.org/fundraising, call (512) 263-2885, or email librarian@laketravislibrary.org.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Fundraising campaign launched to build library branch in Spicewood
