In the last Quarterly, I shared the news that we received the Keystone Grant for Public Library Facilities for design and planning of a new main library building. Applying for this grant was a result of years of planning and ongoing conversations with our community, most recently in the library’s strategic planning process in 2022. Since receiving the Keystone Grant, our staff have fielded a lot of questions from our library community and after the article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, there have been even more! The Board of Trustees and I are committed to sharing information about this project throughout the process. You can keep updated by visiting the Building Project Updates page on our website. In addition, here are some updates and answers to questions we've heard or seen: - The Abington Township Board of Commissioners approved the Request for Proposals (RFP) at their July 9 meeting. The RFP will be used to solicit bids from Architecture and Engineering firms and is available on the Township’s website.
- We hope to have a firm selected by early September, at which point, the exciting—and hard work—starts.
- The design and planning process will include deep and meaningful community engagement from our library community—patrons, staff, Friends of the Library, Trustees, elected officials, and community partners. We won’t be designing the new library in a vacuum, but rather around a (very large) table. Expect an invite to participate in this process.
- The goal for this next stage of design and planning is to have plans in hand for a new building by fall 2027. We do not yet know when we will break ground. When we know, you will know.
- Our plan is to rebuild at our same location. We plan to stay put. 1030 Old York Road is an ideal location for a library: centrally located in Abington Township, on a bus route, along the bustling business corridor of Abington.
- Staying put means that at some point, we will have to relocate our operations. It’s too soon to look for an alternative location for our main library building. At an appropriate time, we will find a temporary home for the library. My goal is that when that time comes, any interruptions to service as we move will be minimal.
- This project will have a significant cost. Building a new main library facility to serve as home to library services for Abington Township for generations to come will have a large capital outlay. We will have a better idea of the total cost once we’ve completed the design and planning phase. We anticipate that funding for this project will come from a number of different sources, both private and public. We hope that public funding will come from federal, state, and local sources. We will also launch a capital campaign, asking for your support for this transformative project.
- The Roslyn Library will remain open throughout this process.
The Abington Township Public Library is a vibrant, thriving community hub that meets the needs of our patrons through our collections of physical books, digital media, free museum passes, board games, puzzles and video games, engaging and informative programs for all ages, and by providing space for people to meet, learn, and connect. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a main library building that will serve the Abington and Rockledge communities for decades to come. It is difficult to overstate how excited we are to work on this, alongside our community. Let’s get started! | 
