By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



WARRIOR — The City of Warrior is exploring its options for a new library facility.

Mayor Rena Hudson said the current library, located downtown on First Street, has outgrown the building.

“Our library is just too overcrowded,” Hudson said. “We’re not able to serve the people properly.”

To help provide some solutions, the city has asked the Warrior LIbrary Foundation to provide some solutions.

One of those solutions may involve moving the library to the old armory building, located at 140 Cane Creek Road. The armory was previously the home to Skyline Baptist Church.

Jackie Wesson of the Warrior Library Foundation said the current library has only 1,800 square feet and is “filled to the brim.”

She said when word got out that the city was looking to move or build a new library, some residents came forward and offered to donate or sell land to the city. However, she said when the armory became available, the foundation began looking for a way to move the library to that site.

“We started exploring options to find out if there was a way we could expand the building or if we convert it to a mixed-use facility,” Wesson said. “We want to have not only a library, but also a meeting room for business groups, or social or civic clubs. That’s something we’re looking at now.”

Wesson said more meeting space would be essential, given that the library’s summer reading program draws about 150 participants each summer.

She said foundation members would walk through the armory building on Monday with a contractor who works for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She said he would then be able to tell the group what their options are for the building.

She said the armory is a structurally sound building with adequate parking and plenty of adjoining land that could be used for construction if needed. “There are many opportunities for the library at that site,” she said.

Wesson said the foundation are putting together plans for what features would be available in the new facility in order to apply for funding.

She said the the new facility would have a larger space for books, a children’s’ area and wireless Internet capabilities.

She said she would also love to see the new library to have space dedicated to the city’s heritage.

“We have a city rich in its history and residents who would like to trace their genealogy,” she said.

While the library will be based in Warrior, she stressed that the library should be for all of northern Jefferson County.

“We want to be available to the surrounding areas,” she said. “We draw from a very large geographic area. We want to be a hub.”