The Casper Journal :: Casper's Community Newspaper

The Natrona County Public Library has been serving Natrona County citizens on the corner of Durbin and Second streets for nearly 100 years.

As the county has grown, the library building has been expanded three times to fill 32,682 square feet on its 1.5-acre site.

Many citizens rightfully have affection for this popular building, due to memories of receiving their first library card and growing up amongst NCPL’s books. As such, the library trustees are particularly concerned with what might happen to this community icon.

If a new library is built, the materials and furniture would be relocated to the new facility. That will make the existing library building available for reuse.

Since the library is a County asset, the Natrona County Commission has the ultimate authority regarding its subsequent use and disposition.

In late 2007, the County Commission informed the library trustees they had no other requirement for the facility. Additionally, the commission indicated that if the building was sold, the proceeds would go to support NCPL.

Some people have suggested keeping the existing building as a branch library. This is impractical for several reasons.

Public libraries normally are built to serve people who are within 20-minutes driving of the facility. That covers most of the heavily populated areas of Natrona County. Having two large facilities not only would be redundant, but also unnecessarily expensive.

The trustees are mindful that the library has been an anchor in Casper’s downtown, drawing people from throughout the county. If the building is sold, it would be important to find an owner who will sustain the downtown’s level of activity.

Several organizations and people have visited the building to investigate its potential reuse. These have included nonprofit organizations, as well as entrepreneurs. These early investigations have been infrequent and preliminary.

Obviously, the voters first will have to approve construction of a new library. Then, it likely would take two years to build a new facility and relocate NCPL’s operations. The prospect of selling the building is at least several years away.

In order to learn the value of the property, the trustees have hired an appraiser. This appraisal will become increasingly important as the process moves forward.

It is doubtful that the trustees will actively seek buyers until the voters authorize construction. Until then, they are addressing the various due diligence issues involved with potential property transfer.

The important thing to remember is that the building holds many fond memories for nearly every citizen in our county. We want to do our best to see that it ends up in the hands of an organization that will do honor to the building’s history of daily service to thousands of people.

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