Two new libraries in future for North Las Vegas

Alexander Road location could be done as early as 2009

An artist?s rendering shows what the library at Alexander Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard will look like when completed.Lucchesi Galati Architects/special to view Advertisement

North Las Vegas has two new libraries in its future, though the specifics of one are more certain than the other.

Most likely, North Las Vegas' next library will be the one planned for 1755 W. Alexander Road near Martin Luther King Boulevard. Acting library director Kathy Pennell said the project was out to bid now and that the contracts would be awarded by Dec. 16 for an anticipated groundbreaking in February. She said the library should open in early 2009.

The library at Alexander Road is planned to accompany a small park with walking trails on its 4-acre plot. Pennell said while it will be patterned on the Aliante Library, it will be slightly larger and have a few more computers.

There also is a library in the development agreement between the city and the developers of the Park Highlands master-planned community. Park Highlands builders will construct the library, and the library district will stock and run it.

This is not the first library donated by a community in North Las Vegas. The Aliante master-planned community donated the land for its library, along with a monetary donation for books.

Though nothing is final, department of economic development director Mike Majewski was able to describe what the Park Highlands library may be like.

"This is not going to be just a library. I think it's going to be a huge educational resource, not just for North Las Vegas, but for the entire valley," Majewski said.

He said the land for the site abutted a Bureau of Land Management preserve also marked out on the working map for Park Highlands.

Majewski said there would be an educational kiosk on the unique resources found within the protected area, such as the endangered bear poppy, and the fossils, which include those of mastodon remains. He said he hopes to see educational programs at the library accompany the interpretive resources, as well.

As far as the size and shape of the library, Majewski said, "for budget purposes, we look at the Aliante Library."

Library board chair Vernie Borgersen said she hoped to see a performing arts center go up on the site, as well.

"It's one of those dreams that we have right now," Borgersen said.

Both she and Pennell said that the site of the Alexander Road library would be too small to accommodate such a center.

Majewski said he hadn't heard anything about a performing arts center, but said he thought the idea made sense.

On Oct. 17, the North Las Vegas City Council approved the concept of locating a performing arts center on the property of the Park Highlands library and park when Marcia Blake brought the issue before the council.

Blake is the secretary of the Rosel Seastrand Arts Foundation, an organization that puts on yearly musical productions to benefit the nonprofit senior services organization James Seastrand Helping Hands, in which she is also active.

In an interview, Blake said the only place in North Las Vegas where her group could perform was the Nicholas Horn Theater at the CSN Cheyenne Campus. But that theater was so often fully booked that the groups has its performances at a venue in Summerlin.

"It's something that's desperately needed in North Las Vegas for the arts to grow here," Blake said.

Whether these libraries will be enough to serve North Las Vegas depends on population growth. However, Pennell pointed out population is not the sole determining factor in the growth of the library system.

"We definitely can use more libraries for our population, but the money is just not there," the library director said.

One thing she would like to be able to expand is the children's programming, such as the children's pipe orchestra at the Aliante Library and the bilingual storytimes at the North Las Vegas Library.

"All the storytimes are full," she said.

She said this is especially true at the Aliante Library, which focuses on children's programs because it serves so many families.

Ordering books and building a collection for the new library already has the district's staff of 25 full-time employees and five part-time shelvers very busy.

"It takes a good year and a half to build a collection," she said.

In the meantime, the library district is seeking suggestions from North Las Vegas residents for naming the library at Alexander Road. Suggestions can be submitted at the library district's page at www.cityofnorthlasvegas.com by clicking on the Alexander Library and Park Naming Form link. Suggestions also can be mailed to: Landscape Architect, City of North Las Vegas, Parks and Recreation, 1638 N. Bruce St., North Las Vegas, Nevada 89030.