Cape Public Library celebrates 10 years in new building; 140K visitors last year

Editor's Note: This story has been updated.

Even though Cape Girardeau Public Library user services supervisor Jean Martin said some question the need for libraries, the institution has retained relevancy within the community -- with Thursday's 10th anniversary celebration as proof.

To commemorate, cookies and a "then and now" photo display is set for 9 a.m. today.

Cape Girardeau Public Library -- at 711 N. Clark St. -- has grown from a collection of 3,000 books to almost 90,000 books, media and other resources.

Last year, the library received nearly 140,000 visitors who either checked out items, attended programs or made use of the several other public services. Overall, patrons checked out over 229,000 books, movies, CDs, audiobooks and eBooks.

Zack Pullam plays with his 1-year-old son, Logan, on Wednesday at the Cape Girardeau Regional Library.TYLER GRAEF

The library also offers a coffee bar area to its patrons.

Martin is embarking on her 14th year with Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Through her career, Martin said she has seen services offered change and other aspects updated. But one of the most memorable changes for Martin was the acquisition in 2009 of the State of Missouri's first-ever book and media automatic sorter for a public library.

Newcomer and Kansas-native Katie Hill has held the position of library director for only a short time -- nine months -- but understands the value the library holds within Southeast Missouri.

" ... We are worth $4 million to the community," Hill said. "And when you look at how much money we are bringing in, in tax revenue, including paying off the building, it's $1.9 million. It's a huge return on investment."

Hill said if Cape Girardeau Public Library didn't exist, the community, as a whole, would have to pay $4 million for books, programs and additional learning resources.

"It's such a beautiful building. And it isn't showing its age yet," Hill said. "The idea of having a brand-new library is still fresh in everybody's heads."

The latest of changes, she said, have mainly been internal, with the exception of soon rolling out a new patron incentive program to further the library's growth and modernization.

And through the years -- even with the fascination of hand-held digital devices -- overall book checkout and library usage has grown, Hill said.

About 25 employees keep the day-to-day operations running at the library. And several have been with the library for over 10 years. One of those dedicated workers is youth services assistant Brenda Renner.

Renner is approaching 32 years with Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Situations have changed within the job, she said, especially in the digital age, "but the people are the same, which is a great thing."

"You get to see the kids grow up and then they bring their kids back when they become parents," Renner said with a smile.

What she loves about her time at the library, Renner said, is meeting people and introducing children to all the books that are out there and letting them know "there's a whole world that they can explore and still be themselves."

But the greatest disruption in the library world was the internet, she said.

The advance of technology changed the whole shift from finding information in books to online searches, Renner said, adding some patrons still prefer the books, "but not as much."

"When we had our grand opening 10 years ago, we immediately saw a vast increase in the number of users. It's been an ongoing thing," she said. "The destination library has become a destination for parents with children."

Cape Girardeau Public Library is a place families can gather, where children can play, find books and relate to one another during story times, she said.

Renner said children are so bright these days it's almost hard to imagine where they are going to take the library in the future.

Youth services assistant Renee Jackson has been with the library for nearly 12 years.

Outreach initiatives, Jackson said, are propelling the library's popularity forward, along with programs that appeal to families.

But summertime is when the library really shines, Jackson said.

"We really pull in the kids and adults, and then some that probably wouldn't utilize us during the year come to programs during the summer," she said.

The library is not just for reading books, Jackson said, listing the expansive list of available in-house programming and children's interactive stations.

"It doesn't feel like it's been 10 years; It really feels like it went by like that," she said with a snap of her fingers. "When we look around, it's held up pretty good. We've had a lot of people come through here in 10 years, and she looks pretty good still."

Jackson said, "The families that bring people here to show off their library is such a good feeling because it's like we're part of their family; we're part of their home."

Efforts to start a public library first began at the turn of the 20th century. In 1914, a library was opened in the Ellingood building at the corner of Themis and Spanish streets, according to information provided by Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Cape Girardeau’s Carnegie Library, built in 1922, served the community until 1980, when a new facility was opened on Clark Avenue. This photo was probably taken in the 1950s.(G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

World War I stopped efforts to build a Carnegie library, but they were renewed after the conflict and resulted in the $30,000 structure in June of 1922. An addition was then constructed at the front of the building in 1959, serving its purpose until 1980.

In February 2007, voters of the Municipal Library District of Cape Girardeau approved the construction of a new state-of-the-art "destination library."

The library was designed by The Clark Enersen Partners of Lincoln, Nebraska, and was constructed by Kiefner Brothers Construction Company.

The doors to the current Mississippi River-themed facility opened May 16, 2009.

Renner said she belives libraries are here to stay.

"I think as a gathering point, libraries will be here in the future," she said.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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