SMALL NEBRASKA COMMUNITY PITCHES IN TO FUND NEW LIBRARY; INSTALLS AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT GEOTHERMAL HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM USING A BOBCAT COMPACT TRACK LOADER
The project was offi cially launched in 2007 with a bake sale and a dream. Today, after more than fi ve years of fundraising, planning and ongoing community support, the vision of a few dedicated residents (a.k.a. Friends of the Library) has become a reality. Construction of the new library building in the eastern Nebraska community of North Bend (pop. 1,200) is now complete. So it’s back to the books, searching the Internet, attending book readings and scheduling events to be held in the library’s spacious community room.
“There had been conversations about building a new library for years before a group of local women fi nally got the ball rolling,” says Jana Post, chairperson of the North Bend Library Foundation. “After completing a survey that showed great interest in updating our existing library facility, things took off. Not surprisingly, with all of the great cooks we have in the area, and this being a small, rural community, the fi rst fundraising event was a bake sale.”
An initial assessment of the existing library building was initiated to confi rm what most had suspected — the present structure (completed in 1913) would not be able to accommodate desired expansion plans. The current building lacked adequate meeting space, an inside area for children’s programs and the ability to provide access for all North Bend residents, especially the elderly and those with special needs.
GOING GREEN
Steve Dvorak, owner of Dvorak Well, uses a Bobcat T300 compact track loader with backhoe attachment to dig pits and trenches, necessary components for drilling wells and installing geothermal loop systems.
14 WorkSaver | FALL 2012
The committee selected a former high school grad, now an architect with an Omaha-based fi rm, to design their new library. Although the original plan specifi ed a conventional heating and cooling system, the plans were later amended after concerns