Cedar Rapids Public Library Gets $5M From State for New Building
Money from Iowa Governor Chet Culver’s IJOBS program can’t be used for interim facility.
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 5/5/2009
- Money can’t be used for interim facility
- Governor calls it “FEMA-plus”
- “Wonderful news,” says interim director
The Cedar Rapids Public Library (CRPL), IA, will get $5 million for a new facility from Iowa Gov, Chet Culver’s $830 million IJOBS program, aimed to promote growth and, among other things, rebuild communities hurt by flooding last summer.
Culver calls it "FEMA-plus," intended to be used in conjunction with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to rebuild a new library. “As with many kind donations and offers of support, it can't be used for an interim facility,” said CRPL interim director Tamara Glise, who has tried without success to get FEMA to help fund interim service.
“It will make a real difference in the quality of the facility we will eventually build, and we're certainly grateful for it,” Glise added, noting that there remains “an application process involved, and we may need to speed up our planning to meet some deadlines, but this is wonderful news.”
FEMA is expected to pay 90% of the cost of a building, estimated at $24 million; Culver's announcement suggests the state would double its expected contribution.
“I have to commend our city government,” Glise said, “which has done its best to support us with our temporary facility considering the enormous financial difficulties they have faced with the loss of 310 city-owned buildings.”
Because CRPL is working in a temporary space only one-sixth the size of the flooded main library, staffers were recently laid off. “With federal funding for a full-sized library (that could house a collection the size of our old one), we could have retained those seven jobs,” she said.
