On a day that Pflugerville city and library officials will remember as much for the cold, blustery wind as for the result of years of work, officials broke ground Jan. 12 on an expansion to the Pflugerville Public Library that will more than double its size.

"I've seen this from beginning to end," Pflugerville Mayor Jeff Coleman said. "I'm very excited and very proud.

The expansion will increase the size of the library from 12,000 square feet to 28,000 square feet and will offer six meeting rooms, two living room areas, a large study area, a quiet reading room as well as new computers and a tech bar for laptop users.

Construction is expected to be completed by spring 2013.

"The community has been waiting on [the library expansion] for too long," City Manager Brandon Wade said. "That's a pretty big deal from a quality-of-life standpoint."

Along with the library expansion, the city unveiled a time capsule buried at the library and sealed until 2065, Pflugerville's centennial. The time capsule includes:

  • Pflugerville, A Heritage to Remember and Another Time, Another Place by the Friends of the Library
  • Long-time Pflugerville Library Director JoAnne Thornton's A Dream Come True
  • The book The Pfluger Family
  • The 2011 Friends of the Library commemorative Christmas ornament
  • The 2012 Pflugerville Reads book, The Wizard of Oz, along with its read-it forward label
  • Newspapers from the week of January 12
  • Some of the original Pflugerville Community Library cards.

Updates on the library expansion can be followed online at www.pflugervilletx.gov/libraryexpansion.