Community Corner

Parkland Community Library Seeks Donations for New Building

Having outgrown its space in South Whitehall, the library sent a letter to residents it serves for help in reaching its fund-raising goal for a new building.

 is reaching out to residents of South Whitehall, Upper Macungie and North Whitehall to raise needed money for its new 30,200-square-foot library.

In a letter sent to residents, library Executive Director Debbie Jack and library board President Karen Tamerler said the library won't break ground on its new building in Upper Macungie until it has, in hand, at least half of the new library's projected $11.5 million cost. The library saved $3.5 million for the project.

It is asking residents to make a donation to the building project so that the new library can become a reality.

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"The Parkland Community Library has been actively, but quietly, fundraising for the past several years," Jack and Tamerler wrote.

Donations from businesses and foundations include: Air Products Foundation, Keystone Savings Foundation, Kiwanis Club of West Allentown, Sarah Plarr Foundation, Keystone Nazareth Charitable Foundation, Upper Lehigh Lions Club, Wells Fargo, IBM and Neff's National Bank. The Friends of Parkland Community Library also have pledged $250,000. 

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The  officially kicked off last June.

Donations can be made online at www.parklandlibrary.org. The library included donation cards, that can be mailed, in its letter to residents.

The new library will include quiet study areas, private tutoring rooms, computer workstations, a separate children's room, a cafe, free Wi-Fi, video conferencing rooms that will be available to clubs and civic organizations and space to grow its collections of books, DVDs and audio books. 

Parkland Community Library began as a grass roots effort in a small building in Guthsville, serving South Whitehall, North Whitehall and Upper Macungie. By 1981, as its collection grew, it moved to its current location off Walbert Avenue in South Whitehall, next to the . It also serves a portion of West Allentown that is part of the .

The library has outgrown its location in South Whitehall. Shelving space in the library reached capacity in 1998, according to information in the letter. Some 7,000 library items must be stored off-site, and floor space is crowded.

The new library will be located at Grange and Ruppsville roads in Upper Macungie.


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