EXPANSION SUGGESTED FOR PEARISBURG TOWN LIBRARY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 14, 1993                   TAG: 9301140160
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: STEVE KARK CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: PEARISBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
EXPANSION SUGGESTED FOR PEARISBURG TOWN LIBRARY
A state library buildings consultant has recommended that the Pearisburg Town Library be expanded at its present location in the town's downtown office building on Tazewell Street.
Town Council reviewed copies of a letter from Robert R. Walsh of the Virginia State Library and Archives criticizing the current library as overcrowded.
Still, Walsh said he recommends against moving it to the King Johnston School property and favors expanding the current location.
Although council has yet to decide where the library should go, it unofficially favors moving it to the King Johnston School property, which the town acquired last year after the school was closed.
Town Manager Ken Vittum said the town is holding off on renovations to the building until the issue has been decided.
Walsh rejects moving to the school building because, among other things, it would be difficult to maintain the security of the library's collections in the two-floor library that has been suggested for that location.
Walsh also said that the lack of shelving space has resulted in books getting stacked on top of existing shelves, making the books both "inaccessible and dangerous."
Additionally, handicapped library users might find it difficult to move around inside the library.
Council also received a letter from the Pearisburg Library Advisory Board agreeing with Walsh's recommendation.
In other matters, Council authorized Mayor Clarence Taylor to sign an agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation for the town to pay 15 percent of the cost of upgrading waterlines on Curve Road.
Currently, waterlines under the street are only 1.5 inches in diameter. Under the terms of the agreement, the town will pay roughly $10,000 to upgrade the lines to 6 inches. The Curve Road project, designed primarily to widen the road, should begin this summer, said Vittum.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB