By Debra Hawkins

December 10, 2007 | SMITHFIELD -- The Smithfield Public Library houses more than 30,000 books, newspapers and CD's, and if all of the material was checked in there would not be enough shelf space to house it all.

According to information put out by the city, Smithfield's first library was created in 1868 by local wards of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The library came to be in its current location in 1921, after the Carnegie Corporation in New York gave the city $12,000 of the $20,000 it needed to build the new library.

Librarian Marilyn Benavides said the library offers citizens books and 11 public computers, with the library circulating between 8,000 and 10,000 books a month.

Karen Bowling, the children's librarian, said she feels although the library is a wonderful asset to the community, the building itself it just not big enough to serve the needs of the area.

"This library absolutely needs to be bigger," Bowling said. "December is our slow month for checkouts and as you can see, my picture books are stacked on top of each other because there is no room on the shelf."

Connie Gittins, the utility clerk for the city, said she feels something needs to change because the current library can't meet the demands of the city.

"We need a different setup to house everything without confusion," Gittins said. "We don't meet ADA (Americans with Disability Act) standards. If we don't comply to ADA standards, we could lose our grant money and without grant money we don't get new books."

Bowling said although the library currently has an ADA exemption, the city has tried to make things easier for the disabled by offering services to those who can't get inside the building.

"The building was built in the Twenties and so it is not ADA accessible," Bowling said. "If they ever remodel the building, the exemption goes away. Right now we have a policy where disabled people can call and request books and we bring them to the curb, but they don't get the library atmosphere, the ability to see what is on the shelf. It is certainly not ideal."

According to information from the city council, the city has considered options such as building onto the library or building a new library in the location of the armory -- a location not all citizens have agreed with.

Gittins said building an addition onto the current library isn't an option and the armory is the location the city has chosen for the new library.

"People are angry that the location of the armory was chosen because the armory has been around for a long time," Gittins said. "The armory is an energy-sucking building and has become a liability for the city."

Jon Wells, the city building inspector, said the building has become a huge heating problem for the city and the city is spending a considerable amount of money just trying to heat it.

"Our heat bill for October was $1,800 and it wasn't very cold," Wells said. "How would you like to pay the heat bill?"

Gittins said one of the reasons people are so upset about tearing down the armory is because of all the programs, including youth sports, that are held there.

"We are accommodating not only Smithfield but all of the county north of us," Gittins said. "Those cities and Smithfield could shift those programs to somewhere else."

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