Noel Wien Library holds ceremonial groundbreaking for renovation project

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - A solitary mound of dirt on a green field outside the Noel Wien Public Library served as the site of a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the facility’s massive renovation project.

The library is closed for 10 months, which started at the beginning of May, while the work is completed.

State and local officials, borough and library staff, and supportive community members gathered outside the Noel Wien Public Library to celebrate the magnitude of the project ahead.

Library Director Melissa Harter, speaking at the event, said, “Public libraries play a crucial role in the health of a community. In fact, they’re often the center of a community like Fairbanks.”

This library has served the Fairbanks community since 1977, replacing the George C. Thomas Library.

Now, it is undergoing its largest expansion since its construction. “Since 1977, our population has near doubled. Back then, libraries were built as warehouses for the written word. The internet was 20 years from becoming mainstream. Computer use, let alone personal computer use, was for science fiction,” Harter explained.

The project is adding four thousand square feet of floor space to the building, as well as a teen room, a café and a used book store, among other improvements.

According to Harter, “A healthy and supported public library system in a community is simply a really good indication that families would want to live and stay and raise their children, that seniors would want to retire here, and that businesses would be able to recruit and retain the literate workforce that they need.”

First given vision following the results of a 2018 community survey, the funding for this renovation was approved by three borough assemblies.

During the project, library operations continue at Joy Community Center, formerly Joy Elementary School.

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