BURLEY, Idaho — The Burley Public Library held a special ribbon cutting on Thursday, officially kickstarting the construction on a half-million-dollar expansion project.
"Truly, we want to build our community; one step at a time, or one page at a time,” said director of the Burley Public Library Tayce Robinson.
For decades, the city of Burley has been looking to upgrade the aging library, but those funds never really came to fruition.
In steps Robinson, who applied for a $500,000 grant through the Idaho Commission of Public Libraries for facility improvements.
"Luckily, we were one of three libraries in the state that got the full $500,000 to do a project of this scale," said Robinson.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday helped officially kick off construction. The new 1,900 square foot expansion will feature new bathrooms, a teen area, new staff offices, and conference rooms, as well as a dedicated Idaho History area.
For Robinson, it's all a dream come true; excited about the impact this significant upgrade will have on the future.
"It's exciting to be able to help and serve our community more; be able to provide more resources, more space, especially for our upcoming generation, so that they have a safe place to be to learn and grow and experience new things," added Robinson.
Jodie Beck is a board member of the Burley Public Library Foundation. She explains this expansion is the culmination of years of hard work, not only by her, but the many before her — including her mother.
"Well, this is actually a very emotional day for me. My mother was a librarian and English teacher for 40 years for Cassia County, so reading and libraries are in my personal blood,” said Jodie Beck. “I grew up here, this is my home, this is my community, and this is our future."
When construction gets underway, the library will remain open as much as possible, fighting tooth and nail to continue providing services to the community.
"Luckily, we're doing it in the summertime, so we will have our summer reading events over at Storybook Park. When we are closed, we will still try to have curbside pick-up so they can get their books and other resources that we have," said Robinson.
Work on the expansion will get underway in April and is expected to be complete by the summer of 2026.
For more information on the Burley Public Library Expansion Project, click here.
