Fund Raising Continues For Fayetteville Library

Ann Henry, chair of the capital campaign for the Fayetteville Public Library, sent a personal letter on July 10 to some 1,000 friends and patrons of the library asking for their help in an effort to build an endowment for the library. The project has received tremendous support from the community, but Henry said the endowment for library operations and maintenance needs another $2 million for a total endowment of $6 million.

The new library building was named the Blair Library after a $3 million gift from Jim Blair in honor of his late wife Diane Blair. The children’s department also has an honorary name of Randall Tyson Children’s Library in respect of a $2 million gift from Barbara Tyson in honor of her late husband.

The $23 million library, which includes furnishing costs, on School Avenue is slated to celebrate its grand opening on Oct. 9.

The new structure, being built by Crossland Construction, includes four floors, a 212-car parking deck, a children’s area four times larger than the current public library, and new technology with more than 100 computers.

It will have wireless Internet, a terrace, a fireplace reading room, outdoor reading areas, a drive-up book drop and an Internet café.