Palo Alto's politicos, civic leaders and bookworms rejoiced in November 2008 when voters resoundingly passed Measure N, a $76 million bond measure to renovate two city libraries and rebuild its largest library at Mitchell Park.
Despite the onset of the Great Recession and the plummeting revenues in the city coffers, 69 percent of the voters approved a bond that would renovate the Downtown Library, upgrade and expand the Main Library and completely rebuild the city's largest branch, the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center.
But for those who spearheaded the passage of Measure N, the celebration didn't last long. While the city now had the funds to construct the buildings themselves, state law prohibits using the bond funds on things like books, furniture and electronic resources. Thus, for leading Measure N proponents such as Alison Cormack and Susie Thom, the end of the bond campaign swiftly transitioned into the beginning of a fundraising campaign to pay for library equipment.
Both now serve on the board of directors for the Palo Alto Library Foundation, a nonprofit group whose mission is "to spearhead fundraising campaigns to support a modern, dynamic library system that meets the needs of everyone in our city." When the city reopened the newly renovated Downtown Library in July 2011, it was the foundation that contributed $275,000 to furnish the renovated branch. The branch's new equipment ranges from the smart board in the new community room and the wheeled, "gondola" shelves spread out throughout the main circulation room to the plushy doughnut-shaped seats in the children's area. Then there's the books -- both the traditional and the electronic kind.
Former Palo Alto Mayor Bern Beecham, who serves as president of the organization's board of directors, joined the fundraising effort at around the time Measure N passed. It was the energy and the commitment of the volunteers that encouraged him to get involved, Beecham said. He also recognized that the new libraries wouldn't do much good if they weren't equipped.
"In addition to the money that the community voted to contribute by passing the bond measure, we absolutely have to provide funds to outfit the libraries," Beecham said.
Since Measure N's passage, the foundation had reached out to just about every Palo Altan, soliciting funds from corporate donors and individual residents. The results have been fruitful. The group has already received $3.8 million in donations, Beecham said. This includes $50,000, distributed over three years, from the Weekly Holiday Fund, which raises money to support local nonprofits that serve children, families and individuals. This year, the foundation received $17,500 from the Holiday Fund.
The foundation in many ways epitomizes the types of public-private partnerships Palo Alto officials tout as the way of the future. After making its contribution for the Downtown Library in 2010, the foundation upped the stakes in 2011 when Beecham presented the City Council with a $1.9 million check to furnish the soon-to-be-rebuilt Mitchell Park library, the most ambitious project in the voter-approved bond. The check, Beecham told the council, represents the contributions of more than 800 people in the community. The donation was the largest the city has ever received from a nonprofit group.
The contribution provided a welcome boost for a City Council struggling to balance the budget. Councilwoman Gail Price called it "really a wonderful moment" for the city and said she "can't express deeply enough" her gratitude to the foundation and the many contributors. Her colleagues, including then-Mayor Sid Espinosa, agreed wholeheartedly.
"I don't think it's just rhetoric to say that this is a historic moment in Palo Alto's history to have a coalition of citizens come together and say that 'One of our Palo Alto resources is important enough that we're going to donate to the tune of $1.9 million to this city for our libraries,'" Espinosa said at the Dec. 19 council meeting. "It truly is extraordinary."
While the finish line is now in sight, the group isn't ready to rest yet, Beecham said. The final stretch of a fundraising campaign is typically the toughest, Beecham said, and there's much work to be done. The city will soon break ground on the third bond-funded library project -- the expansion and renovation of the Main Library. The remainder of the group's fundraising effort will be devoted to getting the Newell Road facility furnished.
"Being close is not being done," Beecham said. "We are determined to fund what we believe is necessary, and it's still going to require a community effort."
Comments
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Dec 1, 2012 at 11:36 am
on Dec 1, 2012 at 11:36 am
This is great. I voted for the bond, and can't wait to see the finished construction. However - Mayor - are you pleased enough with the gift from the citizens to make the fee structure more like the Los Altos library's? We go to Los Altos because of the fee structure and how it allows us to work our library visits better into our lives. We haven't used our local libraries, that we pay for, in TEN YEARS because the lending policies make them unusable and punitive.
Reserve a book and can't pock it up in time? A dollar fine. Borrow a children's video and someone else reserves it? You have to bring it back in one week of checking it out or be fined. Los Altos gives three weeks and a six week grace period, plus the fines go to the LIBRARY, not the general fund as they do in Palo Alto. Palo Alto is using the fines for revenue, which gives them an incentive to keep an unfriendly fine structure. The fines should be to encourage returning the books, not to raise money for the city.
Do you know why Palo Alto sends you an email BEFORE your items are due, instead of two weeks after? Because I argued vociferously for it back when, I think it was Paula Simpson was stil here. I still have emails where I was told it wasn't possible to do that!! (oh brother, right?)
The reason I was given for Palo Alto's punitive fee structure relative to Los Altos' is that Palo Alto doesn't have the resources of he county system. Well if the county system is such a great advantage (and I agree), why aren't we joining? Now that the itizens have been so active and generous, can you please do two things to make our libraries more usable?
1) change fines and lending policies to match those of the Los Altos library, which are just frankly easier on families, and
2) change the recipient of fines from the general fund to the library system - it feels a lot better paying unavoidable fines if I know it will benefit the library.
Lastly - something is wrong in the computer system, too. I would pay for my fines, not use the library, and the next time I'd go back, there would be fines on my record. Like I said, I finally gave up using our lical PA libraries.
Fairmeadow
on Dec 1, 2012 at 12:01 pm
on Dec 1, 2012 at 12:01 pm
This building, when it finally is finished construction, will be of little value to the community at large. The digital world has clearly established itself during the last ten years--no matter how hard the people pushing for this library tried to deny that fact, vilifying every one in their way.
We're seeing a mini-revolution going on within the PC industry--an unexpected endorsement of tablets--so much so that they may very well put an premature end to the desktop PC business--
Gartner Says Worldwide Media Tablets Sales to Reach 119 Million Units in 2012:
Web Link
THE POST-PC ERA TAKES SHAPE: TABLET SALES TO TOP NOTEBOOKS NEXT YEAR:
Web Link
The tablets can hold hundreds/thousands of e-books, movies, audios, etc. There really is no reason to ever go to a public library again--to pick up/drop off reading material.
And .. in the coming years we will be seeing new kinds of "libraries" evolve--which link together the extant holdings, in one form or another, from all over the US, and eventually--the world:
Walk into any privately-owned coffee shop, and look around. Virtually everyone in their has a laptop, a tablet, or is reading on a cell phone. There are few people actually reading books any more.
National Digital Public Library
Web Link
People donating to this now unneeded facility would be better off asking that their money be used to build a city-wide "Mesh Network", so that wireless Internet access would be available to all. The money being raised (per this article) would completely build such a wireless network, providing funds to operate it for years to come, in addition.
Sadly, much of this money will sit idle, when the library is closed (about 65% of the year).
another community
on Dec 1, 2012 at 1:07 pm
on Dec 1, 2012 at 1:07 pm
I --- and a huge number of others --- read books both on my Kindle and on paper. I watch movies at a theater, and streamed on my TV/computer. I watch plays or operas on a screen and go to live performances.
Each environment has different attributes to offer, but they are not adequate substitutes for each other.
I still want books, lots of them, and can't imagine not having them.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Dec 1, 2012 at 1:59 pm
on Dec 1, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Longtime resident,
I agree, we should be more like Los Altos, a single library system. Close everything but Mitchell.
College Terrace
on Dec 1, 2012 at 3:01 pm
on Dec 1, 2012 at 3:01 pm
"we should be more like Los Altos, a single library system. "
Los Altos actually has two branches.
Midtown
on Dec 1, 2012 at 5:46 pm
on Dec 1, 2012 at 5:46 pm
One item not mentioned in the article, but I found in reviewing the bond ballot materials is that there is an expected $1 million in increased operational costs for the new library, but is not currently in the library budget. Will the library foundation be covering this as well?
Crescent Park
on Dec 1, 2012 at 5:50 pm
on Dec 1, 2012 at 5:50 pm
For 76 mil, will they finally be open at times normal, working parents can actually go with their kids? After work? Nope. Weekends? Hardly. Second tier holiday, don't even ask. 2pm on a weekday? Guaranteed.
Barron Park
on Dec 1, 2012 at 7:59 pm
on Dec 1, 2012 at 7:59 pm
We agree with Mr. Martin's comments. A fitting Mausoleum to analog jurassic government thinking in a digital world.
Midtown
on Dec 2, 2012 at 10:55 am
on Dec 2, 2012 at 10:55 am
Los Altos is part of the Santa Clara County library system and does have 2 branches. But the city is thinking of dropping out of the county system. Web Link ADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.merc urynews.com
The increased operational costs were pointed out in a 2007 audit, which concluded that, “Choosing to deliver services through five branches results in a more expensive system. The marginal cost of the branch system is not easily quantifiable; multiple branches require duplication of effort in many areas. But the branch library system is ultimately a community and policy choice,” i.e., not a financial decision.
From an email from then-City Auditor Sharon Erickson: “…delivering services through 5 branches is more expensive than a single facility system. It requires duplication of effort – the example we used on page 16 was Santa Clara which only needs 11 employees to staff customer service desks in its 80,000 square foot library, compared to Palo Alto that needs 14 employees to staff customer service desks in our total of 51,000 square feet (spread across 5 facilities). … 77% of cost is in staffing…”
Audit is at Web Link
Midtown
on Dec 3, 2012 at 7:21 am
on Dec 3, 2012 at 7:21 am
Pat, the additional $1.1 million in annual operational costs needed for the new Mitchell Park library is not from having multiple branches, but because of the size, and additional maintence. Even though the city budget has increased to $152 million this year, they needed to cut services (like 6 police positions, animal services, etc). What the city will cut to fund the additional operational costs is an interesting question.
Here is the text from the city staff report recommending the library ballot measure:
The potential construction of a new, larger Mitchell Park Library and Community Center will require an allocation of additional annual operating expenses, both from a facility maintenance and library/community center operations standpoint. Staff has worked to develop an estimated range of these anticipated annual operating costs, based on input from the Library, Community Services, Utilities and Public Works departments as well as the independent library consultant who has been working with Group 4 Architecture on these projects. These costs include the following: additional library and community center staff necessary for larger Mitchell Park
facility (no more than 4 full time positions – three Library and one Community Center - as recommended by library consultant); new Public Works Facilities Mechanic position for building systems maintenance; custodial/maintenance costs; utility costs; library collection
maintenance; public computer replacement; security system costs; and furniture replacement. The estimated annual cost for these items could range between $750,000 and $1.1 million.
Crescent Park
on Dec 3, 2012 at 11:01 am
on Dec 3, 2012 at 11:01 am
"This building, when it finally is finished construction, will be of little value to the community at large. The digital world has clearly established itself during the last ten years--no matter how hard the people pushing for this library tried to deny that fact, vilifying every one in their way"
+9^9*9^9
Old Palo Alto
on Dec 7, 2012 at 12:45 pm
on Dec 7, 2012 at 12:45 pm
PA needs all three branches - those Libraries are eventually going to be community centers with community activities for all ages, as well as lending libraries – just look at the new renovated Downtown Library – great success!
Of course Main Library is just a scare - look forward when it’s renovated
how the City allowed it to run down to such awful condition? Staff compensation is too high, library per se funding is too low, some expenses overinflated: recently asked a librarian at the main library why there is no Link+ checkout system in Downtown Branch, her answer? The system & staff training on how to use it would cost hundreds of $$... for real? I am a corporate librarian myself & very aware of the real costs…
I believe the new Mitchell Park Library will be great
I do wish Downtown library extended its hours at least one day/week to 8PM. Many of us work, you know; outside PA as well. Why academic library can work nights/weekends (for less salaries that city librarians), but city library staff can’t?
Disagree that lending time is too short; much better - 1 mo +renewal if not on hold – than in MV; fines are fair too ( user have sufficient time to pick-up a reserved material; you can always cancel your reservation to avoid fines)