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Friday, May. 14, 1999

Ground broken for Flour Bluff library

60,000-volume facility set to open June 2000

By JONATHAN OSBORNE
Staff Writer

   Flour Bluff's new library was touted Thursday as the stuff of which dreams are made.
   "Pinch me," said Flour Bluff School Board President Diana Barnes.
   But she wasn't dreaming.
   Several hundred parents, students, school officials, city leaders and residents gathered at Flour Bluff High School Thursday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Janet F. Harte Public Library, a joint venture between the city and the school district.
   "(The library) is something the children and adults will use for the rest of time," Mayor Loyd Neal said.
   Officials also unveiled a logo for the library, which includes the building and fish swimming around an open book, designed by Lani Weikum, a Flour Bluff High School student. About two dozen students were recognized for their designs.
   Construction is scheduled to begin next month and the library will tentatively open in June of 2000.
   "For a long time we were embarrassed of this little shoebox thing of a library," Flour Bluff resident Alicia Perez said. "But now we have this marvelous gift that's out of this world. We really needed it."
   The new one-story building will be about 13,300 square feet, including an exhibit area that will be slightly more than 500 square feet. The new building is about 12 times larger than the Flour Bluff Branch Library and will more than double the number of resources available to students at Flour Bluff High School.
   The building will have a stucco masonry exterior and will have natural lighting from windows located just below the wave-shaped roof.
   "This is a wonderful occasion," said Flour Bluff Superintendent Carol Moffett. "We will have the best high school library probably in the state of Texas."
   Combining city and school district resources for the 60,000 volume library will give residents and students more library services and space than either the city or school district could have provided alone.
   A $1.84 million donation, made by former Caller-Times publisher Ed Harte and his wife Janet will pay for nearly the entire cost of construction, engineering fees and equipment, including $115,000 worth of books for the library. Janet Harte died in February.
   The Corpus Christi Public Library Foundation, a nonprofit group that raises money for library projects, will pay for the exhibit area.
   The students say the library will increase the way they learn in many ways.
   "I think this is a big educational advance for Flour Bluff and the community," said Autumn Exelbert, sophomore class president. "I think we'll get the whole community involved."
   Aaron Mason, a freshman drama student, said the old library doesn't have enough plays for the drama team to use in competitions.
   "(The new library) will give us better material to use," he said.
   But the students realize the library has benefits beyond the school district's students.
   "I think it will provide more learning opportunities for all ages," Sophomore Sheena Hagopian said. "The parents and the kids can learn together."
   Staff Writer Jonathan Osborne can be reached at 886-3794 or by e-mail at osbornej@caller.com
   

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  © 1999 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.