Pueblo library district reveals renovation plans for Barkman and Lucero libraries
Pueblo City-County Library District recently revealed renovation plans for Barkman and Lucero libraries to make them more spacious and accessible.
At Barkman, renovation ideas include expanding the parking lot, installing an ADA-compliant ramp and building a pedestrian bridge that would connect an access point of the library to Belmont Park.
The bridge would be built over a drainage ditch that’s adjacent to the facility and limits accessibility to the library from the park and vice versa, and the ramp would be located near the end of that bridge on the site of the facility.
The interior of Barkman, located at 1300 Jerry Murphy Road, would also be renovated with new furniture and a refresh to its security system. It would also include the addition of a meeting room, two small study rooms and a "Makerspace" area, the latter of which would be the first time the facility has included that type of space.
A similar area at Rawlings library was completely revamped and expanded so it can be host to community classes and programming.
More:Massive renovation of Rawlings Library is almost done. Here's what's new at the library
“The Barkman branch will have a bit more versatility to it,” said Sherri Baca, executive director of PCCLD.
Lucero library, located at the corner of Monument Avenue and East Seventh Street, would also receive a new meeting room under its renovation plan alongside a redesign and shift in direction of the entrance to the facility.
After the renovation, that entrance would face Pueblo Community Health Center and the branch’s parking lot rather than Risley middle school. That orientation could help library staff better manage crowd control of that space, said Nick Potter, community relations director for PCCLD.
Other interior updates to the Lucero branch would include a larger children’s area and a designated Makerspace, among other smaller changes. The renovation would increase the branch’s square footage by a third, Baca said.
The Lucero library was built in 2014 but needs an update to help meet the demand, Baca said. The branch has nearly 150,000 visits per year and offers afterschool programming and other services for Pueblo youths in an area that qualifies as a census tract where the majority of households have an income of less than 60% of the area median income.
“Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lucero and Barkman (libraries) were our busiest libraries,” Baca said. “There’s a huge amount of sense to increase the square footage. If you’ve ever been to the Lucero library after school, it’s overrun with youngsters and there’s a lot of things going on.”
Both projects will cost nearly $3.8 million, but PCCLD has, out of its general fund, allocated $3.3 million and $3.2 million for the Barkman and Lucero renovations, respectively.
The library district needs to raise about $1 million to cover the rest of the cost. It will launch a public fundraiser to help close that gap, Potter said, similar to the campaign it launched in spring 2021 for renovations at Rawlings library.
PCCLD in 2019 commissioned a master facility plan to renovate all seven of its branches, the first being Rawlings Library. It expects to completely wrap minor details involved with that renovation in April and move its attention to Barkman in August.
Construction work at Barkman is expected to start at that time and should take about a year, Potter said. Once that is finalized, construction at Lucero is expected to begin.
Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @josuepwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo library district to renovate Barkman and Lucero libraries
