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Glenn Walsh doesn't even live in Hazelwood, but he frowns on a plan to uproot the Carnegie Library from its century-old building there and move it to a new location in the neighborhood.

"That old building, with its stained-glass dome and music hall, has a tremendous amount of character," said Walsh, 47, of Mt. Lebanon, who has written extensively about the Carnegie Library system and maintains a Web site devoted to the subject.

"Clearly it is one of the jewels of the community," he said of the library's current home, built thanks to the largesse of Andrew Carnegie at the turn of the 20th century. "I can really see no good reason to abandon it and create yet another vacant building in the neighborhood in favor of some nondescript building."

Walsh has been assisting residents in the fight to get the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to drop its plan to move the library into a new building in Sophia Plaza along Second Avenue near Flowers Street.

Herb Elish, director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, said he believes sentiment for the old building should not outweigh the need to maximize service to the community.

"There's a lot of reasons why the move will be beneficial, and chief among them is that the current location is very poor," Elish said. "We believe that for libraries to truly serve the people, they need to be at the center of things, which in Hazelwood means Second Avenue."

The library is about two blocks up from second Avenue along Hazelwood Avenue and Monongahela Street and is not handicapped accessible. The building also is not air conditioned and is expensive to heat.

At 4,000 square feet, the new location would be about half the size of the old building, but still will hold the entire collection because it has a more efficient layout. It is on a second floor, accessible by stairs and an elevator.

Elish estimates that bringing the old building up to standards would cost between $2 million and $2.5 million.

"We're not against preserving historic buildings, but we can't occupy them simply because they are old," he said. "I can't see putting that kind of money into a building that is in the wrong location and doesn't serve the people well."

He noted that the Homewood branch, which was built in 1911, is being renovated because it is in a central location.

If the library board approves the move, the collection would be moved to the new building early next year, Elish said.

Homer Craig, 64, a lifelong resident of Hazelwood, opposes the move because correcting the problems with the old building is "not insurmountable."

"They can put in a ramp for wheelchairs, and look at installing air conditioning in the future," he said. "They've neglected things this long, they don't have to do everything at once now. I say let's keep the old building as a library."

Craig said he does not buy into the idea that the location is a barrier to usage.

"It's only two blocks from Second Avenue," he said. "I don't think that's going to stop anybody who wants to use the library."

Despite the dissenting views, Elish said the consensus from community meetings is that moving the library is the right thing to do.

"We've been meeting with and talking to people about this for nearly two years," he said. "Nearly everybody agrees that we should make the move."

Jeff Weinberg, 55, of Landview Road in Squirrel Hill, said while he appreciates the historical significance of the old building, the current library is "not very user friendly."

"It would be much better on Second Avenue, especially for senior citizens," he said. "And without air conditioning, the library is atrocious in the summer."

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