City of Caldwell discussing moving public library into Civic Center

CALDWELL, Texas (KBTX) - The Caldwell City Council brought up the idea of moving all of the books and programs inside the Harrie P. Woodson Memorial Library to the Caldwell Civic and Visitor Center during Tuesday’s city council meeting.

While nothing has been made official, some community members reacted negatively to the suggestion.

“The library moving to the Civic Center is certainly not a done deal,” said Caldwell Mayor Janice Easter. “It was just a topic of discussion because this wonderful library has simply outgrown all of the community programs we have in place.”

Easter said some of those community programs include digital literacy, GED and ESL certifications.

The library would also need more than $100,000 in renovations to fix slab and structural damage.

The city has explored moving the library to the Chamber of Commerce building and other Caldwell buildings that were available to rent or purchase.

Easter said the Civic Center would have enough room for the library and all of its programs and could even move books out of areas if the space is needed.

Caldwell Director of Administrative Services Forrest Williams says they’ve done research on how the library can be more innovative and serve the community better.

“The space allows us more fluidity so we can offer programs but we can also have the books housed there and we can also have other activities and community events,” Williams said.

Before a decision is made the city says it will make sure it hears options from residents of Caldwell.

“We wouldn’t make a decision that big without public input,” Easter said.

The city invites anyone to come to their next city council meeting to express what they would like to see down with the library.

The next city council meeting is Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 5:30 pm at 107 S. Hill St.

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