Northern Tier Regional Library is one of 11 libraries to receive a Keystone Grant this year.
The nearly $92,000 grant will help pay for some much-needed renovations at the library’s Richland location.
A portion of the grant will be used to redo the bathrooms at the Richland library, as the current bathrooms are original to the building — 28 years old.
“We’re going to gut them, the janitor’s closet and probably a small portion of our meeting room to re-create a men’s room, ladies’ room and family restroom,” said Diane Illis, director of Northern Tier Regional Library.
Also on the docket is replacing the library’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
“We’ve been preplanning this very strategically because the main unit that services the library is 28 years old. We think the library was sort of built around it so replacing it is a rather complicated thing,” Illis said. “We need to go up, dismantle the system, bring it down. Then the new system has to be dismantled, taken up and reconstructed in place. The ones that are not that hard have already been done. This one — the big one — is going to happen when we come across a week where we don’t need air working because we won’t have it for that period of time.”
Northern Tier Regional Library has invested heavily in both Pine and Richland townships. The initial outfitting of the Pine branch at the community center was funded by a Keystone Grant of $68,000 for the library to spend at their discretion.
Pine’s efforts to get more people in the community reading have paid off. Northern Tier’s branch, which opened Sept. 14, has served a large portion of the community in the short time it has been in operation.
Illis attended the Pine supervisors meeting April 21 to present a status report on the newest branch and the library renovations.
“October through March, our circulations have risen by 87%. We are getting a lot of people through. We’ve had to add a second delivery day to bring books into the community center,” Illis said.
Illis also reported on the success of the Pine branch in the context of other libraries in the county.
“I looked at statistics from all over Allegheny County, at all of these other libraries operating in the county. There are at least a dozen libraries that the Pine branch is outperforming. Some of them are standalone libraries, and we’re doing more business than them at our branch. I think things are going really well,” she said.
The supervisors thanked Illis for what the branch brings to Pine.
“I’ve heard a lot of great things about the Pine branch here, so great work on that. Thank you,” Supervisors Chairman Ryan Colombo said.
Illis expressed her gratitude and pride for the Pine branch.
“We’re really happy to be here. We knew it was going to be a success, but it’s good to see it proven,” Illis said.