Jefferson County Library’s Genealogy Department at the Northwest Branch in High Ridge will be brighter and more accessible for the public in the coming months, department head Ginger Brickey said.
She said the department, located at 5680 Hwy. PP, will be closed to the public until mid-April while carpeting is installed, walls are painted and the new shelving layout is complete. New furniture will be delivered later in the spring.
Brickey said they have already moved shelving around into a more accessible design with wider aisles between the stacks. The department’s permanent collection of books, journals and other records of local history still needs to be reshelved, she said.
According to the library’s website, the genealogy room was closed to the public beginning March 20. Brickey said because renovations are ongoing, a solid re-opening date has not been set.
“Because we’re so unsure about the timeline right now, it’s really important for people to give us a call to make sure if the collection is accessible or not,” she said. “They can still access the digital database on our public computers in the main part of the library, but we do not have computer access in the genealogy department right now.”
To contact the Genealogy Department, call 636-677-8186.
“It already feels more inviting,” Brickey said. “It’s just a fresh new look to reintroduce the department to the public. With it feeling more inviting, I think people are going to feel more comfortable coming in here and accessing our resources.”
Brickey said no renovations have been carried out since 2005 when the department first moved into that space at the library. She said it was time for a refresh.
“When you walked in, (the shelves) kind of went across from one side of the room to the other and it was very difficult, first of all, to even see the collection, and also a lot of the shelves were blocking the overhead lights so it was too difficult to see a lot of the titles that we shelve,” Brickey said. “We have all of the shelves rotated now to where they’re facing the doorway. You can see the entire collection now. It’s open and spacious and it makes the room look so big.”
New furniture, including a table and chairs, will provide patrons with a more comfortable space to conduct research or read, Brickey said. Items in the genealogy room cannot be checked out, so she said providing enough space for patrons to peruse the collection during operating hours is important.
The cost for department-specific renovations will be about $13,250, using funds from private donations and the library’s general budget, according to the library’s marketing manager, Laura Maddock.
Brickey said the Jefferson County Genealogical Society donated its remaining funding of approximately $9,000 after disbanding in late 2023.
The volunteer group Friends of the Northwest Library gifted the Genealogy Department $3,500 this year, which Brickey said will be used to purchase furniture. The group sells books, CDs, videos and other items to support the library.
Maddock said $750 is being used from the library’s general fund for painting. She said library staff will paint the room.
The new carpet in the genealogy room is included in a larger replacement project at the Northwest, Arnold and Windsor branches. The Jefferson County Library Board of Trustees voted unanimously March 27 to accept a bid to replace carpet at the branches. Commercial Flooring, Inc. in St. Louis will complete the carpet replacement for a total of $37,194.
According to library documents, the project includes replacing the carpet in the Northwest Branch circulation area and main pathway, in addition to the genealogy room for $26,541. The carpet in the Arnold Branch meeting room will be replaced for $5,456 and the Windsor Branch meeting room for $5,197.