Construction work on the new West Waco Library is in the homestretch for its mid-September opening, and library officials are bracing for a boom in use.

The $5.2 million renovation of the former Dunlap’s building on Bosque Boulevard — earlier the home of the Goldstein-Migel department store — will triple the amount of space available at the nearby R.B. Hoover Library, which it replaces.

Renovation of the former Dunlap’s building on Bosque Boulevard — earlier the home of Goldstein-Migel — cost $5.2 million in bond money.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald

The new building has about 32,200 square feet, with more room for books, periodicals, and meeting and study rooms, plus the genealogy section now at the Central Library.

“Experience has shown that when you build a new library building that’s larger and in a new location, usage will double over three years,” Waco library director James Karney said. “I have no reason to doubt it won’t be as high as that, and probably more so.”

The move will take about three weeks. West Waco will be without a library during that time.

But the temporary inconvenience will be greater for regular users of the Central Library at 1717 Austin Ave.

As part of the same $12 million bond election that relocated West Waco’s library, Central Library will get a $6 million makeover starting in October or November.

The library will be closed for the renovation for 15-18 months, Karney said.

But patrons will be able to select Central Library books from the electronic library catalog, to be retrieved that day or the next by library staff.

He said the West Waco renovation was relatively easy because Dunlap’s had renovated it in the late 1990s, installing modern climate control.

The Central Library climate control systems must be replaced and the interior space will be reconfigured. A two-story atrium will be added on the east side.

Workers prepare the interior of the new West Waco Library, located next to Target.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald

Favorable prices on the Dunlap’s project helped save about $600,000 to use on later library improvements, Karney said. The money will likely be spent later at the East Waco Library, he said.

jbsmith@wacotrib.com

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