Town Center Phase 3 on horizon — with focus on new library

An upgraded library building is past due, according to Longboat Key town officials and library staff. 

The idea has been a longtime vision for the community, according to Town Manager Howard Tipton. The Sarasota County-led project is still in early stages, but town officials and current library workers are already thinking about the project’s potential. 

Sarasota County allocated $1 million in its fiscal year 2024 capital design budget for the project. Support Services Director for Longboat Key Carolyn Brown is on the committee tasked with selecting the construction and design management services, for which the request for proposals was announced. 

“It’s exciting to see it moving forward, and we appreciate the county setting aside these dollars to work on the design piece,” Tipton said. 

The new public library will take the place of the existing Longboat Key Library and will be incorporated into the Town Center project. Phase 3 of the Town Center project is focused on the library.

“I see it very much integrated into the Town Center flow,” Tipton said. 

The town is currently wrapping up Phase 2, which included the Karon Family Pavilion and the center itself, according to Tipton. The pavilion is scheduled to be unveiled on Nov. 11. 

Sarasota County will be financially responsible for the new library. But the town is exploring the possibility of adding additional community space to the design. This part of the project would need to be paid for by the town, Tipton said.

Once the design and construction services have been selected, Tipton hopes to host community discussions with the town at the start of 2024. The goal is for residents to provide input as to what services they would like to see with the project, and what an additional community space could bring.

Tipton wants to have those discussions in season, when most residents are on the island. He also mentioned that there is opportunity for community benefactors to donate to the construction of the additional community space. 

While Sarasota County will be operating the library, Manatee County residents will still be able to use the library’s physical resources and attend any programming, according to Brown. Digital library resources, such as audiobooks, will most likely be unavailable for Manatee County residents. 

The existing library has been on the island since 1972. Tipton said it is in need of major investment. Among other repairs, the building needs a new roof. The existing library will most likely be torn down once the new one is completed.

“They’re holding on in their current location, but the idea is that they will work with the Sarasota County Library to incorporate their collection into the new library’s collection,” Tipton said.

Among the stacks of the Longboat Key Library, residents are able to check out books of all genres and also buy used paperback books from $1. Select recently published, lightly used books can also be bought for less than $10. 

Vice President and board member of the Longboat Key Library Barb Torrence said she would ideally like to see some of the existing collection be used similar to the nonprofit Friends of Selby Public Library, where book sales provide revenue for library services. 

One potential problem Torrence sees is that the current library still uses physical library checkout cards with due dates to check out books. The library didn’t have the money or resources to barcode their collection and go digital. 

“People have volunteered — that’s the only way this has worked for 50 years,” Torrence said. 

Currently, the Longboat Key Library has 15,000 books in its collection, which Torrence said could be weeded down to 10,000 to be cataloged in the new library. 

Beyond the books, Torrence sees opportunity in the future public library for public events and services, such as movie afternoons, kids programming, guest speakers and ancestry record retrieval.