Southeast Mesa will have its first city library by May after the idea won enthusiastic endorsement Thursday from the City Council.
"This is a 'Wow!' moment for me," Councilman Alex Finter told library director Heather Wolf after she outlined how her thin, money-starved staff has found a way to stretch services to the growing area.
It won't be a full library for at least several years, but it's a start similar to the one that launched the Red Mountain branch library in 1987.
The plan:
• Rent 2,500 square feet in a nearly empty strip mall at Guadalupe and Hawes roads. Wolf likes the location because it's near Sunland Village East, a rich lode of potential library users and volunteers.
• Stock it with the items most in demand by library patrons and provide links to services offered at Mesa's three established facilities.
• Open three days a week: Tuesdays 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Thursdays and Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Aim, during the first year, to issue 1,200 library cards, accommodate 15,000 customers and check out 35,000 items.
Wolf said the capital cost of $677,000 would come from impact fees paid by developers as they build homes, apartments and other structures.
Of that, she said, only $45,000 would go toward renovating the storefront. The rest would go to materials, which can be transferred when Mesa builds a hoped-for permanent facility in the area in coming years.
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