Wisconsin: $29.5 Million Reconstruction of the Madison's Central Library Gets Underway
From the Wisconsin State Journal:
On Tuesday, Mayor Paul Soglin and others kicked off a $29.5 million reconstruction of the worn shell that will bring a glassy, modern facade, a third-floor, new technology, more natural light and public space to create a state-of-the-art facility at the corner of North Fairchild and West Mifflin streets.
The library will reopen in the summer of 2013.
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In 2010, the city was poised to build a new library at the corner of North Henry Street and West Washington Avenue as part of a public-private redevelopment, but talks with a developer collapsed and the city decided to renovate the existing, 47-year-old structure.
In 2011, Soglin shook up the process by demanding benchmarks from the private Madison Public Library Foundation on its $8.5 million in fundraising. So far, the foundation has raised $5.9 million, roughly on track with its benchmark schedule. Earlier this year, construction was delayed six-weeks because the project had to be rebid.
Read the Complete Article
See Also: Learn More About the New Central Library
Including a look at the final design in this PDF file.
Filed under: Libraries, Public Libraries

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.