At the annual meeting of the Weatherly Area Community Library Board of Trustees, the Building Committee announced plans for a new library.

At A meeting held at the Weatherly American Legion Post, The Building Committee announced plans for a new 2,300 square foot building at an estimated cost of $300,000.The building will be located a the new municipal complex near the intersection of West Main Street and Veterans Lane, a property that had once been the site of the Tung Sol factory. The complex is planned to include the Borough offices, a magistrate's office, a police station, the library and possibly a fire station.The police station will be the first building to begin construction. A federal grant was received for the project. Construction is planned for the spring of 2014. The second project will be the new Weatherly Area Community Library.The Weatherly Area Community Library is currently located at 20 Carbon St, Weatherly in a former candy shop in a building that had been purchased for a branch of Bank of America."In 1994, we started the library," said Ruth Isenberg, president of the Board of Trustees and publisher of the Journal Herald. "There were no adult library services in the area, so I wrote an editorial and said we need a library."Ten people contacted her and a library board was founded.In 1995, the Weatherly Area Community Library began in a space within the local Presbyterian Church. Soon, they acquired about an 800 square foot rent-free space at the Bank of America building. "It was always tight, but the price was right," Isenberg said.The Bank of America building was recently sold, and the library hasn't been happy with the support of the new owners. "The building is lacking in heat and electricity," said Robert Von Frisch, a member of the board, the treasurer and a member of the building committee. "We have outgrown the building and we are dealing with new owners that are not maintaining the building how it should be maintained."The new library has an agreement with the Borough of Weatherly for a 99-year lease at $1 per year, and the borough will provide all the utility hook-ups.Towards the $300,000 estimated cost of the building, the library has already assembled a reserve of $80,000, which includes a grant of $25,000 from First Federal charitable foundation, and $1,000 from Walmart, $15,000 from a capital campaign, and $6,000 from fundraisers. "We have $80,000, so we are only $220,000 away," Von Frisch noted with a smile.They also have fees from architect Dan Poncavage of about $10,000, most of which have already been paid. "We are fortunate to have received a donation of shelves and desks from the Pocono Regional Library, that will save us $10,000," Von Frisch added.The new library building will be of modular construct, built offsite and installed on a prepared foundation. The plans call for a building 33' x 76', roughly three times larger than the current space. It will have handicapped-accessible bathrooms, a meeting room, desks, computer kiosks, stacks, browsing station for people to read, and possibly a coffee station. It will serve the Weatherly Area School District, Weatherly Borough, Packer Township, Lausanne Township and LehighTownship."It's always better to start from scratch and build something that is adequate and appropriate rather to modify something to make it suitable," Von Frisch said.