“Basically, Lisa will coordinating the activities associated with that new library,” Dixson said. “She’ll be responsible for setting up those meetings, attending those meetings and gathering input from residents about what they want.”

Wells said she “looked forward” to the project.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m looking forward to being a part of the planning process.”

Wells said she will hold a series of public meetings to gather information and “get a feel” from the public about what they want from a new library.

“We want to learn what the public wants and balance that with what’s available for the budget,” she said.

And while Wells acknowledges a new south Penn library could cause a decline in the number of users at the nearby Moore library, she said that decline would only be temporary.

“Right now people from south Oklahoma City use Moore or the Southern Oaks library (operated by the Metropolitan Library System),” she said. “And when we open the south Oklahoma City branch, our numbers will trend down for a while. I expect that. But I don’t think it will stay that way for long.”

The south Oklahoma City area, she said, has an “immediate need” for a library.

“It probably won’t be as big as the Moore library, with that big of a collection,” she said. “But, again, we haven’t had any public meetings yet.”

Wells said she and other library officials have examined other libraries in the region to gather ideas. “We visited the Fayettville library,” she said. “We’re looking for new ways to provide better service.”

Part of those ideas could include changes in hours, more service access points and new technology and educational classes.

“We know our customers want more service points,” she said. “We know they are looking for more places where they can pick up and drop off books. We know they want longer hours, such as being open on Sunday — things like that.”

All those issues, she said, must be balanced against the system’s budget.

And Pioneer officials recently announced they need to increase that budget.

Funded by a four mill draw from county ad valorem taxes, Pioneer’s annual budget is about $7.5 million, said spokesman Gary Kramer.