Pueblo library district to temporarily close Barkman branch for renovations
Renovations at Pueblo City-County Library District’s Barkman branch will start Aug. 1, the library district announced Wednesday.
The Barkman branch will be closed during renovations, which are estimated to end around late spring or early summer of 2024. The branch is located at 1300 Jerry Murphy Road and serves the Belmont area.
Updates to the facility include the construction of a pedestrian bridge that would connect an access point of the library to Belmont Park, two study rooms, an expanded meeting room and Makerspace area where visitors can engage in crafts or other creative programming. Spaces dedicated for adults, teens and children will also be built.
The library district also plans to bolster security measures at the facility with cameras that will monitor an expanded parking lot, better outdoor lighting and more onsite security staff. It installed environmental sensors in the branch’s bathrooms earlier this year after discovering and removing methamphetamine residue in those areas.
HBM Architects and Interior Designers, based in Cleveland, Ohio, will front the renovation effort. Pueblo’s H.W. Houston Construction, which led the Rawlings branch makeover alongside Denver-based Anderson Mason Dale, will manage construction, the district wrote in a news release.
“I am pleased that the library district is able to continue investing in its facilities,” Sherri Baca, executive director of Pueblo City-County Library District, said in the release. “The renovation of the Barkman Library is important for serving the neighborhood well.”
The library district first unveiled its renovation plans for Barkman earlier this year and noted that the branch was next in line for interior updates following the extensive remodel inside Rawlings Library, its main location.
The library district in 2019 commissioned a master facility plan to renovate all seven of its branches, the first being Rawlings. It allocated $3.3 million from its general fund for the Barkman renovation and, as of July 19, had fundraised $250,000 to help cover the project’s total cost of $4.2 million. It plans to launch a capital campaign early next year to collect more funding, said Nick Potter, the library district's community relations director.
Once the Barkman revamp is complete, it’s expected that Pueblo City-County Library District will shift its focus towards its East Side branch, the Lucero library, which will receive similar changes to help meet its increased demand.
Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo's Barkman library to undergo renovations starting in August
