Library Director Ann Zydek and Board President Christopher Merrill

WARSAW — The Warsaw Community Public Library board of trustees is keeping its collective fingers crossed that a possibly much less expensive solution to its elevator situation could be in the offing.

At the regular monthly board meeting Monday, April 9, Library Director Ann Zydek told the board that a replacement to the facility’s limited use, limited application elevator could be possible. In previous months, the board was entertaining the very real probability that the space in the front entrance of the library would be completely renovated to accommodate a state-of-the-art alternative to the LULA lift.

Zydek, who recently attended the Public Library Association annual conference, said the new idea was presented to her by Facilities Manager Bruce Hively after her return.

“The news, when I came back from the PLA conference, Bruce handed me a flyer and said he was talking to a repairman and there is a commercial level LULA elevator that could possibly fit into our current footprint at our entrance with only two sides of the shaft needing to expand outward to fit,” Zydek told the board. “He’s trying to make that connection to get them out here to see if our site has that possibility. If that’s the case, then we would be looking at a project that’s under $150,000. It would be the same kind of solution that we currently have. But, we are dealing with two months of the current one not working.”

The LULA elevator has not only been in a down status for several months this year, but also broke down 11 times in 2017. Zydek said the elevator is several decades old.

The elevator’s primary purpose is to facilitate handicapped accessibility. The library’s main entrance is elevated and patrons take stairs to the main floor. The LULA elevator helps those who have issues with stairs such as those physical handicaps or parents with young children.