The East Baton Rouge Parish Library Board of Control has yet to decide whether it will purchase a $94,000 Omniglobe, a high-tech display and educational tool, for the downtown River Center library or whether it will buy a less expensive one, rolling the leftover dollars into the library’s general fund.
Library staff is comparing the $94,000 globe to alternatives that have become available since 2018 when the library board initially budgeted the purchase, Assistant Library Director Mary Stein says, adding she hopes a final decision is made by the end off the month.
One feature they’re looking at is portability, she says, giving the system the ability to move the globe other library branches.
Substantial completion of construction of the downtown library is slated for the end of the month, though the building won’t be handed over to library staff until contractors have completed all punch list items, a process that likely will take several weeks. Stein says she expects to begin moving the branch’s 60,000-item collection in the spring.
