MORGANTOWN – A center for happiness.
That, in broad, undefined terms is a phrase that the majority of some 900 survey takers selected when asked to envision their ideal library space.
For the better part of 2025, leadership with the Morgantown Public Library System worked with Margaret Sullivan Studios, libraryIQ and the public on an all-encompassing facilities plan to help bring definition to that sentiment and begin building a decision making framework that will inform how it goes about delivering it across the county.
Implementation promises to be a tall task.
The library system – which includes the Main Morgantown branch and neighboring Aull Center as well as Cheat Area, Arnettsville, Clay-Battelle and Clinton District branches – has been in “building crisis management mode” for years according to MPLS Executive Director Sarah Cranstoun.
Most of the significant renovations to library buildings happened in the mid-90s. That’s when a second floor was added to the main branch building originally constructed some 40 years prior. Two of the small branch buildings – Cheat Area and Clay-Battelle – were built in the 1970s as 20-year temporary solutions. Both remain in use.
“Repairing isn’t an option, really, in most of our buildings. It’s all replacing it where it is or moving and building new,” Cranstoun said during a recent presentation on the completed facilities plan.
She used the Cheat Area branch as an example, noting, “The Cheat library, we could double or triple the size of it, and it would grow like crazy. They are so busy all the time. Their programs and storytimes regularly have 30-plus people at them.”
The facilities plan delivered by the consultants basically asks the question, “What if we were to start from scratch,” and goes about utilizing community feedback in conjunction with site visits and a deep dive into the system’s data collection and finances to divide the county in four distinct districts – central, southern and northwest Monongalia, and Cheat Lake – and define a future vision of the library system’s presence in each.
The result is ambitious, envisioning everything from a completely reconfigured, or relocated, Morgantown branch to “co-located” facilities shared with other amenities – a Cheat Lake recreation center, for example – to mobile units, trail libraries, micro-libraries and other offerings across the county.
Taken as a whole, Cranstoun admits it’s not doable, explaining, “These are concepts, not plans.”
But when taken as individual projects approached over time in conjunction with the right partners and community support, forward progress is less daunting.
“We’re not going to do all of this, of course, but we’ve put the framework in place to be able to consider the opportunities as they come up, either as it relates to partnerships we’d want to pursue instead of waiting for them to present themselves, or real estate possibilities,” Cranstoun said.
The MPLS Board of Directors has developed a list of immediate priorities, which includes:
- Support for the Arnettsville Community Center leaders in their goal of owning the building outright. The center houses the Arnettsville Public Library.
- Exploring the financial implications of operating a facility in the Suncrest area of Morgantown.
- Identifying partners in Monongalia County for shared spaces or services – particularly in the northwest and southern parts of the county.
- Creating a proposal for increased outreach services, detailing costs of general operations.
- Exploring new avenues of funding to support future increases in services and construction.
- Creating a project plan for renovating the Morgantown Public Library and addressing the Aull Center services.
As with any undertaking, money is the bottom line.
In the previous fiscal year, the library system had an operating budget of roughly $2.3 million. Of that, about $1 million was provided by the city of Morgantown. Another $600,000 came by way of the countywide library levy, which must be used solely for operating expenses, meaning it’s not available for capital projects. The state contributed approximately $600,000 and $80,000 came through the Monongalia County Board of Education. The remainder was a mixture of grants, donations and fees.
There are two years remaining on the current library levy, which would need renewed as part of the May 2028 primary.
“Funding is always a challenge. Nothing in our funding world is guaranteed … Our state funding has a match system that we have to match locally. We have great support from [Morgantown City Council] and city administration and we’re very thankful for that, but everything could go away every year. The levy we’ve at least got for a couple years,” Cranstoun said. “I think one of our big longer term challenges as funding goes is improving our ability to fundraise. It’s not in our capacity with our current staff. Running a capital campaign is not something we’ve ever done … But if we want to build buildings, we need real strategic and structural help to raise those kinds of funds.”
Members of Morgantown City Council said they’re in support of the efforts, noting Cranstoun and the MPLS staff have consistently exceeded expectations with the means at their disposal.
In 2024 alone, the system issued more than 2,800 new library cards, provided more than 10,000 computer sessions and loaned out just over 171,000 physical items in addition to 178,500 digital borrows. Further, 11,326 people of all ages spent time in a library participating in some 650 programs systemwide.
“I say all the time that parks and libraries are what entice families to want to live in an area, and those are things that the city needs to invest in and support,” Mayor Danielle Trumble said.
