5 October 2000

SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD RECOMMENDS BRANCH LIBRARY PROJECTS FOR FUNDING

The Seattle Public Library board of trustees has agreed on a list of projects to recommend for funding under the Opportunity Fund, a $6 million fund created as part of the 1998 "Libraries for All" bond measure to pay for new or unanticipated neighborhood library capital needs.

The Library Board, which voted unanimously on the list at its Sept. 26 meeting, sent its recommendations this week to the Seattle City Council. The City Council's Culture, Arts & Parks Committee first will hear the recommendations. The full council has until Dec. 31, 2000, to pass a resolution allocating all or part of the Opportunity Fund.

The Library Board's recommendations are:

South Park: $2.53 million for a 5,000-square-foot, full-service library.
Sand Point: $1.42 million for a 5,000-square-foot, full-service library.
Beacon Hill: $99,400 for a 400-square-foot Language Center pilot program inside the new Beacon Hill Library.
Magnolia: $1.62 million for an approximate 1,800-square-foot addition to the existing Magnolia Library.
Queen Anne: $101,500 to relocate staff and public spaces in the existing Queen Anne Library in a pilot program to study efficient use of space in Carnegie libraries.
Bookmobile: $203,046 bookmobile with technology and new collections. This project would begin with an analysis to determine neighborhoods that could best benefit from new bookmobile service.
Mount Baker: $12,183 feasibility study to examine the need and possible locations for a new branch library.

"We are excited to recommend using the Opportunity Fund to improve library services in our neighborhoods," said City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs. "We look forward to moving ahead with the process."

The Library Board largely followed the recommendations of the Library's Citizen Implementation Review Panel (CIRP). The panel reviewed the 10 proposals that the Library received, listened to presentations from each proposing group or individual, and assessed the proposals based on criteria set in the original Libraries for All ballot legislation.

The Opportunity Fund is part of the $196.4 million "Libraries for All" bond measure that Seattle voters passed in 1998 to upgrade the Library's 109-year-old system. The plan calls for improving or replacing all 22 branch libraries, building three new branches and building a new central library.

For more information about Libraries for All, visit the Library's Web site at www.spl.org and select "Libraries for All capital projects." For more information about the Opportunity Fund process, visit www.spl.org/lfa/financial/opportunityfund.html.

(For more information, call Caroline Young Ullmann, communications assistant, 206-615-1627.)

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Content modified: 6 October 2000

12/30/2005