Library Buildings 2005: A Storm Rains on Our Parade

Highlighting 185 public projects and 31 academic buildings

By Bette-Lee Fox -- Library Journal, 12/15/2005

A year that features 185 completed public library projects should be cause for celebration, and likely those constituencies that now have access to these 91 new buildings and 94 added-to/renovated facilities no doubt have been pleased with the outcome. Yet, underlying all this solid library construction news is a sadness over the devastation suffered by other libraries and their communities following Hurricane Katrina and her sister storms.

Author Information

Bette-Lee Fox is Managing Editor, LJ

Library Journal has covered the aftermath of the hurricane in news stories in print and on our web site. Perhaps some of the affected libraries would have appeared in this year's roundup of projects completed between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005. But with the chaos of the storm itself and the impact on information delivery, data on those projects did not reach us or no longer seemed a priority to those involved. The usual abundance of Louisiana construction projects has dwindled in this year's coverage to two. Other states that generally have significant building programs also seem to be underrepresented. Perhaps 2005 will go down as not only the year of Katrina but as the anomaly in our statistics as well. In next year's roundup we will attempt to cover the libraries missed this year owing to Katrina.

What's shakin'

The projects we are featuring include big and bold design. They deserve all the fanfare they can endure. Among the biggest is the Fayetteville Public Library, AR, LJ's 2005 Library of the Year, which includes an 88,000 square foot parking garage in addition to the 88,000 square foot building. Other large buildings include Cherry Hill Public Library, NJ ($21.6 million); Columbus Public Library, GA ($40 million); and Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library Central Library, IN ($33.6 million).

Cover The jim-dandiest addition/renovation is the $57.6 million work done to the Akron-Summit County Public Library Main (on the cover), which now encompasses 270,000 square feet.

Joint use between public and academic facilities and libraries and other service centers seems to have hit its stride, with several projects combining audiences.

The academic tale

Tables for this article:

Academic New Buildings
Academic Additions and Renovations
Academic Renovations Only
Public New Buildings
Public Additions and Renovations
Public Six-Year Cost Summary

The 31 college and univer-sity libraries include the new building at Middlebury College, VT, costing $40 million; the Hannon Library addition/renovation at Southern Oregon University in Ashland ($23.2 million); and the Gottesman Libraries at Columbia's Teachers College in New York, a renovation that came in at $18.8 million.

Taking the plunge

After years of wrapping up the annual construction package and presenting it to our readers for the holidays, Library Journal's editors decided it was time to see the process of renovating a library from the ground floor, as it were. The Court Square Branch of the Queens Borough Public Library was the project we chose, which heralded donations of architectural talent and materials. For a complete picture of how we did, see Library by Design, the supplement to the September 15 issue.

Despite all the weather, total expenditures for this year's projects tallied just over $832.5 million, with local funding, as always, taking up the bulk of it, but gifts and fundraising efforts paying off. The library future remains bright. No storm clouds on this horizon.