The new Kennett Library director made a presentation to the Kennett Township Supervisors Wednesday night about the status of the new library building and some of the features it will offer.

According to Director Chris Manna, the goal of the new library building is “to boldly go where no library has gone before.”

Manna began as the director in November and said the new building is slated to open in May 2023. One of its features is a 110-seat auditorium, which Manna sees as a place where people can gather to watch things like movies or shows before heading out to dinner in Kennett – instead of going out of town to a theater or dinner. The new building is also envisioned as a community gathering place, he said, where people can meet with friends or for informal gatherings, among other things.

According to library board President Jeff Yetter, Kennett Township is the largest municipal supporter of the library. The library serves the townships of Kennett, East Marlborough, New Garden, Newlin, Pennsbury, Pocopson, West Marlborough, and the borough of Kennett Square.

The new library will have an audio/video room where Manna envisions people recording their oral histories and a recording studio with an educational focus. Visitors can learn how to record new music and use the equipment.

“We’re going to have a person dedicated solely to teaching all about this,” Manna said about the recording studio. “The library is the place where this is going to happen.”

He added that there are technology classes planned for everyone from children to adults and several maker spaces featuring laser printers and cutters and 3D printers.

“Part of my plan is we’re going to be hiring that maker space person in the third or fourth quarter of this year,” Manna said. “That person’s responsibility is going to be to design programs (around those maker spaces).”

In 2021, the library raised the equivalent of $500,000 per month toward the new construction, according to library board President Jeff Yetter.

“We started the year having raised $8 million,” he said. “At the end of the year, we were at $14.1 million.”

For more information on the library, go online to kennettlibrary.org.

In other business

• Dave Gunyuzlu was appointed to the township’s Environmental Advisory Commission at the meeting. His term will end on Dec. 31, 2022.

• The supervisors approved the Dec. 1 meeting minutes and also approved the Feb. 2 bill voucher. There were $320,315.18 in bills and $68,248.65 in transfers.