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Board of Trustees' Building Committee votes not to enter into an amended lease with Kite Realty Group for continued operations of the Glendale Branch of IMCPL.

Library News & Announcements RSS Feed January 5, 2007

At its meeting on January 4, the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Board of Trustees' Building Committee voted unanimously not to enter into an amended lease with mall owner Kite Realty Group for continued operations of the Glendale Branch of IMCPL.

According to Library Board President Louis Mahern, the new configuration at Glendale would substantially reduce patron access to the Library and make it more difficult to handle and transport materials. Convenient patron parking and the Library's visibility also would be lessened, and IMCPL would need to assume additional security and maintenance costs.

"The Glendale Branch is by far the most expensive branch in the system to operate, and we simply cannot justify that sort of cost for less favorable circumstances," stated Mahern.

IMCPL currently operates 22 branches, including Glendale. Mahern anticipates the Library will continue with 22 branches. However, locating a replacement branch for Glendale would not occur until the Library comes up with a new facilities plan which looks at the demographics of the entire county.

"We expect that facilities plan to be completed later this year," added Mahern.

The 29,000-square foot Glendale Branch opened in October, 2000 and features a collection of approximately 140,000 materials. Over 500,000 patron visits are recorded and over 600,000 materials are circulated annually at the branch.

The Library Board will make a decision on the Building Committee's recommendation at its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, January 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Glendale Branch.