The public is invited to see the first images of the new Ballard Library and Neighborhood Service Center from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2, at COHO/NOMS Alternative School, 1810 N.W. 65th St., cafeteria. For more information, contact David Kunselman, Library project manager, at (206) 386-4096, or david.kunselman@spl.org.
Architects from Bohlin Cywinski Jackson will discuss the progress of the design of the new 15,000-square-foot library and 3,600-square-foot neighborhood service center, which are scheduled to open in 2004. The building also will include a U.S. Bank branch.
Linda Larson, president of the Seattle Public Library board of trustees and branch board steward, City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs, members of the Library's Capital Program Office, and representatives from the Department of Neighborhoods also will be available to listen to comments and answer questions.
Also attending the meeting will be representatives from U.S. Bank and members of the Ballard Library Project Advisory Committee. The advisory committee, which grew out of Ballard's municipal center master planning process, is made up of residents, the design team, business people and representatives from the library, U.S. Bank and the Department of Neighborhoods.
The new $6.5 million library will be built on a site currently occupied by U.S. Bank at 22nd Avenue Northwest and Northwest 57th Street. The new library branch will have more seats, an expanded collection of 66,700 books and materials, expanded reference areas, larger areas for children and young adults, more computer space, a meeting room and parking. The existing 7,296-square-foot Ballard Library was built in 1963.
The new library is part of the $196.4 million "Libraries for All" bond measure that Seattle voters passed in 1998. The plan calls for improving or replacing all 22 branch libraries, building five new branches and building a new central library. The $72 million Seattle Center/Community Centers levy that Seattle voters passed in 1999 will fund the neighborhood service center.
The Seattle Public Library Foundation is in the midst of a "Campaign for Seattle's Public Libraries" with the goal of raising $77.5 million from private sources to enhance the public bond commitment. Every dollar raised will ensure the library system reflects our community's needs in buildings, books, technology and people, long into the future. For more information about "Libraries for All" or the Foundation, visit the Library's Web site at www.spl.org.
(For more information, call Caroline Young Ullmann, Library communications assistant, 206-615-1627.)
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Content modified: 18 April 2002
12/30/2005
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