LIBRARY REPLACING FALCON BOOKMOBILE

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Dec 21, 2007 | by JENNIFER WILSON

The days of the Falcon bookmobile are numbered.

Instead, thanks to nearly $1 million in federal grant money, eastern El Paso County booklovers will have a real library -- about 6,000 square feet near the corner of U.S. Highway 24 and Meridian Road.

The library should be welcome news for residents of Peyton, Calhan and points farther east, said Beth Barrett, the Pikes Peak Library District's associate director of branches and outreach.

"We would like to see the library open by the beginning of 2009," Barrett said.

One of the library district's two bookmobiles parks at the Falcon Retail Center every Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

"We can do 90 to 100 people on one of those afternoons," said Jan Meadows, bookmobile supervisor for the library district. "The Thursday morning one is pretty much pandemonium."

But when residents need to visit a branch library, they must drive to a Colorado Springs branch such as East Library on Union Boulevard or Ruth Holley on Murray Boulevard.

Library officials figured fewer cars on the road would mean cleaner air, so they applied for grant money from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality improvement program, Barrett said. They received $ 971,403, she said.

The district will use $225,000 to buy a more energy-efficient bookmobile, replacing its oldest vehicle, then kick in $300,000 of its own money to pay for the $1 million building, she said.

The land comes free. Farmers State Bank donated acreage next to its Falcon branch at Meridian and Highway 24, Barrett said.

The new building will include a computer lab, wireless Internet, a community meeting room and the usual selection of books and DVDs, she said.