In Marshalltown, IA, a New Library Building Emerges

Rita Ormsby -- Library Journal, 10/27/2008

• “New Library for a New Century” will cost $9 million
• First public library in state to seek LEED "silver"
• Civic involvement spurred many contributions

The first public library in Iowa to seek LEED “silver” certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is nearing completion in Marshalltown, a county seat of 26,000 people about 50 miles northeast of Des Moines. The current Marshalltown Public Library, a five-level Carnegie building, was built in 1902 and expanded in 1974. It has for years been overcrowded; the new 35,670 square foot building, on one level, will double the space.

In a state with many other Carnegie buildings that need replacement, library director Carole Winkleblack (below, at the new building) has been fielding inquiries from other Iowa librarians considering new building projects. The lesson from Marshalltown, she says, is that civic involvement is crucial to fundraising, going green, and even moving the collection. “In today’s economy, the new building is really a testimony to Marshalltown’s willingness to look to the future and embrace it,” she said.

Indeed, the $9 million “New Library for a New Century” will benefit during the November 21 Main Street “holiday stroll,” when volunteers move some of the library’s 90,000 items to the new building five blocks away. After professional movers finish the job, the new library is scheduled to open on December 22.

This heartland community, still dominated by the farm economy, is a half day’s drive from cities like Chicago, Omaha, and Kansas City, but it has become quite diverse. Some 12% of the community is Hispanic, many of whom were recruited to work at the Swift meat plant. The change is reflected in the library’s print collection and access to Ebscohost databases in English and Spanish. By establishing and operating restaurants, clothing stores, and other local businesses, these new residents follow earlier Marshalltown entrepreneurs.

New features
The new library (see more photos on Flickr) includes a pavilion—a casual space for parents to read to their children—a youth programming area, and a café. Seating for adults and youth will increase, and meeting rooms with a capacity for 150, limited now to 25, will be available for public use after-hours. The 100 daily users vying for time on the current library’s six Internet stations will find 22 new Dell computers.

For the first time, the library will have a materials security system. Winkleblack estimated that annually about one percent of the library’s materials budget is lost. During the summer, former library pages, now college students, were hired to prepare the materials. At the project’s conclusion, they were given t-shirts stating, “I stripped for the Marshalltown Public Library.”

The single-floor layout will not only aid users with mobility issues, Winkleblack said, it also will reduce the minimum staff needed for service areas to three from five. A PC reservation system will also save staff time. Thus, no new staffers will be hired. (Of [corrected] eight full-time and nine part-time employees, two librarians have MLS degrees; another has a PhD in botany, and the youth librarian has a teaching degree.) 

Financing plans
Library trustee Allen Thoreson (pictured with Winkleblack) linked fundraising for the new library to Andrew Carnegie’s early 20th century library building program. “It means more to you when you work for it,” he said. With a small grant of “seed money,” library staff, trustees, the Friends of the Library, and other volunteers, got a $1 million foundation grant, then successfully secured voter approval of a $5 million bond issue in April 2006.

Later that year, the state’s Vision Iowa Board committed to a $1.2 Community Attraction and Tourism grant, the largest amount then provided to an Iowa library, conditioned on local matching funds. Some 800 donors, including the city and county, contributed $2 million; local employer Fisher Controls donated the primary site and $250,000 and Lennox Industries is contributing highly efficient roof-top units to heat, ventilate, and cool the building. 

Seeking LEED
While a sustainable building had been under discussion, the decision to do so was accelerated when a Vision Iowa Board member asked, “Are you building green?” The USGBC awards "green" points in broad categories of energy and atmosphere; indoor environmental quality; sustainable sites; materials, and resources; and water efficiency.

The new library is situated downtown on a “recycled” building site, previously used as a parking lot. Its location will permit pedestrian access. In addition to the donated heating and cooling units, the solar panel photovoltaic array will convert sunlight to electricity. Sunscreens and high-performance glazing on the large exterior windows will maximize sunlight and minimize the heat passing through the glass.

Along with access via a city bus route, the new library will offer 90 parking spaces, with some spaces designated for fuel-efficient vehicles. Bike racks also will earn “green points.” Special water retention tanks under the parking area will help mitigate run-off downstream from the library. In the building’s interior, carpet squares have a high recycled content. And, in another touch earning LEED points, water conservation measures will be incorporated in the restrooms.

Rita Ormsby, who grew up in Marshalltown and recently visited, is an information services librarian at Baruch College, the City University of New York. She took the photos picturing the new building.