$4 million expansion for library

The Board of Trustees of the Wimberley Village Library accepted the terms of a $4 million loan from Government Capital Corporation on July 8 to finance construction of an 8,100 square-foot addition and renovation of much of the existing building. This project will double the space of the library.

Construction of the new wing is expected to begin around the end of this year and will be the fourth and most ambitious improvement to the library since construction of the core building in 1978.

The library cited the decades-long high population growth rate throughout Hays County as well as the success of library staff in creating highly popular information, cultural and educational programs for Wimberley area residents as reasons that created pressure for a significantly expanded facility.

In 2019 there were more than 92,000 visitors to the library; programs had increased 223% and attendance had more than doubled in five years. As a first move trustees purchased a 2.5-acre tract immediately west of the present site in 2016 and began a careful five-year long planning process.

In March of this year the library district contracted with LPA, Inc., of San Antonio, a leading architectural firm with broad experience in library design, to design a new wing on the western side of the present building and renovation of existing spaces. Trustees have stressed the need for the plan to include a One-Water rainwater collection-and-use system like that created for the Blue Hole Primary school, a state-of-the-art air conditioning and filtration system, maximum use of natural lighting and of recycled materials where appropriate.

The new wing will provide significantly larger spaces for youth and teen collections and activities, a purpose-designed craft lab, and one large and several smaller public-use rooms.

Government Capital is a leading public finance firm headquartered in Southlake, Texas, which provides funding for small and midsize local government projects. A loan by GC financed the library’s previous expansion in 2007.

The library district relies on income from a sales tax of one-half of one per cent on taxable sales within the district, whose boundaries are the same as those of the Wimberley Independent School District.