.png)
From its humble origin story in a classroom at the local high school, the Dripping Springs Community Library has continued to grow and evolve as it has served area residents over the past 35 years.
Now, the library is ready for a new chapter. The nonprofit has purchased seven acres of land behind the current facility, and is planning a new larger building that will better serve its patrons.
“What’s exciting about that increase is that we’ll be able to offer the community a gathering space that Dripping Springs needs right now, as it’s growing so big so fast,” said Christina Thompson, Communications Manager for the library’s “Beyond Books, Building Community” campaign. “We don’t have enough space anywhere to hold big community gatherings.”
The library has al- ready worked with an architect to design the new project. The plans call for a two-story building that has more meeting rooms, tutoring areas and a maker’s space. It will be four times larger than the current library, at over 37,000 square feet. It will also include an outdoor amphitheater and lots of open outdoor spaces.
But to make this dream a reality, the nonprofit needs support from the community. That’s where the “Beyond Books, Building Community” fundraising campaign comes in.
“The Dripping Springs Community Library is not a public library. We are part of an independent library district, and there’s only 15 of those in the entire state of Texas. It makes us really unique,” Thompson said.
The library district does not receive any property tax money or government funding. It does receive a quarter of one percent of sales tax revenue within Hays County, which was approved by Hays County voters. With the projected growth in the area, that revenue will allow the new library to fully support itself by 2033. Until then, the library is seeking to bridge the gap.
“We’ve had incredible support since launching our fundraising campaign at the beginning of 2024,” Thompson said. “Within the first year of our campaign, we’ve already raised 1.7 million, so we’re just over 40 percent of the way to the goal.”
The nonprofit needs to reach its $5 million target before it can break ground on the library, so it is pushing to make that happen as soon as possible. If they can reach that goal by the end of this year, they can start building at the beginning of 2026.
“We're told that it's an 18 to 24 month build once we break ground,” Thompson said. “So we're all targeting to move into the new library by early 2027.”
One feature of the new library that Thompson is especially excited about is the children’s section.
“The entire bottom floor will be all dedicated to the children's area,” Thompson said. “So we’ll have a huge space for story time, plus doors that open up to a playscape outside.”
As a mom of three kids, Thompson said she understands that kids are energetic and they sometimes need a little break from the books to go out and play. Then they are ready to come back inside.
“I love the thought of having that in-andout without disturbing people in the adult section,” Thompson said. “That’s a little stressful in the current library.”
Thompson is also excited about the outdoor spaces and the amphitheater.
“Right now we do offer a lot of concerts and music events in the library,” Thompson said. “To be able to have that outside in that expanded capacity of space will let us bring in more music and more theater to our community.”
Instead of turning on to Sportsplex to get to the library, patrons will turn onto Mighty Tiger to get to the facility. It will feature a much larger parking lot - the current one only has 35 spaces. The library is also hoping the city will agree to build a sidewalk that connects the property to the high school, so students can walk over during their off periods or after school.
“Our library director, Mindy Laird, likes to talk about the way libraries are shifting to a library of experience. So it’s not just going to read a book or check out a book. It’s going there to learn new skills,” Thompson said. “We’ll have a Maker’s Space in our new library, so you can go into these spaces and learn how to use a new tool.”
Another interesting feature of the new library is the community art project that will hang above the stairs leading down from the main library to the children's section. It will be made up of hundreds of glass butterflies. The library partnered with glass artist Carlyn Ray for the project, and she leads donors through a workshop to design their butterflies. Thompson said it’s amazing to see the creative designs that people in the community come up with.
“It's really remarkable to watch her lead a group of people through designing,” Thompson said. “It's such cool energy in the room. Right now we've sold nearly 200 butterflies, which is amazing.”
There are a variety of other opportunities coming up that provide ways for people to support the new library.
“We're just really thankful for people that are interested in learning about the project and helping us spread the word, because it's such an important community resource,” Thompson said.
