Michigan: East Lansing Public Library Gets Anonymous $1.5M Gift to Renovate or Expand Current Building

From the Lansing Star-Journal:

An anonymous donor’s gift of $1.5 million to the East Lansing Public Library “is by far and away the largest contribution that the city has ever received,” Mayor Nathan Triplett said Monday.
The money was received April 10 in a lump sum, library Director Kristin Shelley said. It’s expected to spur several capital improvement projects at the facility, which hasn’t seen any real renovations in nearly two decades.
The library’s annual operating budget is $1.8 million.
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Neither Shelley nor Triplett would name the donor, other than to say it was an individual. Shelley said she understood the person to be an East Lansing resident.
The money was given for the sole purpose of renovating or expanding the existing library building, she said. Nothing was earmarked for operations, so the donation won’t generate new jobs.

See Also: From the City of East Lansing Announcement:

An architecture firm has already been selected for the project, Lansing-based C2AE, and a number of possible improvements have been discussed. Many of these proposed improvements will be dependent on the success of the capital campaign:

• dynamic, improved children’s area
• larger teen area with direct access to maker studio
• improvements to maker studio
• living room-style area
• automated book drop
• main service area
• vending area
• improved user flow
• reconfiguration of spaces (more open concept, less block-like space)
• improved meeting areas, community spaces
• additional data ports/outlets
• donor wall

Filed under: Data Files, Jobs, Libraries, Public Libraries