Library Wins in Austin and Multnomah; Setback in Oakland

-- Library Journal, 11/09/2006

Despite criticisms of the cost, 60 percent of voters in Austin, TX, on Tuesday approved $90 million for a new central library. The 250,000 square foot main library at a location downtown will replace the 27-year-old John Henry Faulk Central Library. The Faulk library was built to serve a population of 300,000—which has since doubled—so Austin Public Library needs new books, programs, or public access computers. In Oregon, Multnomah County voters renewed a library levy before it expired and agreed to a higher assessment that will provide more than $30 million a year over five years. The library's current levy doesn't expire until July 2008, and this levy hikes the rate from 75.5¢ to 89¢ per $1000 in assessed property value. Oakland, CA, wasn't as fortunate. Though 63.5 percent of voters favored Measure N, a $148 million library bond measure, it fell just short of the two-thirds majority necessary for approval. The measure would have funded construction of a new main library at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, two new branch libraries, and renovated and expanded existing branch libraries.