Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, February 12, 2026. Reprinted with permission and gratitude.
By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy
This bookish girl’s awaiting her new skirt.
Thing is, she’s a bit of a rockhound.
“The scope of the project includes repairing the exterior, the EIFS, or the ‘exterior insulation and finish system,’ and once everything is repaired, they’ll do a whole new topcoat layer of EIFS, and because EIFS is a little fragile, they’ll do some rock installation on the south side of the building, under the canopy and on the bottom of the front,” explained Spring Valley Public Library (SVPL) Director Melissa Van der Plas, highlighting how Spring Valley’s library will undergo a construction glow-up this summer as its exterior is given a long-awaited restoration that includes a new skirting and façade of Versetta Stone to help protect the community’s favorite book sanctuary.
Vander Plas went on to elaborate on other parts of the project that has been made possible through a $165,000 Minnesota state library construction grant that pays for half of the costs of dressing up SVPL’s structure, with the other half of that sum being drawn from the library’s capital campaign construction fund that was designated at the time that the former SuperValu grocery store was converted to the Spring Valley area’s literary center in 2001-2002. “With all of that, we’ll have to do a few roof repairs – because we have to do the EIFS, it will disrupt the roof a little bit – and then we’ll be doing some landscaping, adding patios and expanding the library’s use outdoors. Not only do we want to make it more appealing…we want to add usefulness and some decorative features.”
The director cited that “this whole project began because the library board realized that it had been 25 years since anything had been structurally improved here.” Snowblower and lawnmower damage caused them concern because the EIFS had been punctured. “Because of the EIFS damage, there was potential for more structural damage and development of mold. That has not happened, but we addressed it through this project using our library capital campaign fund, which is essentially an overage of funds saved when the building was turned into a library.”
Vander Plas outlined the expected timeline for the summer’s work – when the contractor will start gathering materials and readying the library for a makeover – and what to expect as the effort progresses. “It’s going to be prob ably late April or early May before they get started on the actual things outside. Our con tractor is JJBK Construction here in Spring Valley, and we’re also using another con tractor who specializes in EIFS.”
The library’s grant committee, library board and staff are excited to see what SVPL’s new clothes look like as the building gets the first cosmetic changes in more than a quarter century. Vander Plas observed that there will be more outdoor space for patrons to enjoy a book, for the children’s summer reading program participants to explore and play, and certainty that the library’s skirting will not again become as threadbare as it currently has done.
She acknowledged the generosity of the community upon the library’s relocation to the former grocery store from the Carnegie building that is now Spring Valley’s city hall and that of donors who have given as generously since. “We will have to replace the roof in five to ten years, and we do not want to deplete our capital campaign fund – we’re using an amount of that for this project – and we do not want it to go away. There may be opportunities in the future to support our maintenance projects, but we are thankful for the support we’ve had already.”
She invited the SVPL community to watch as the library gets its Cinderella transformation this summer, adding that the library is open six days a week to welcome patrons and visitors to tour the collections and take a moment to read a book.
The Spring Valley Public Library, on Jefferson Street behind First National Bank, is open Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 7:00 p.m., Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. For more information, log onto the library’s website at www.springvalley.lib.mn.us, stop in, or call 507-346-2100.
Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325
