Officials gathered at the North Portland Library on Friday to celebrate ground being broken on a project to update the facility.

The project includes renovating the existing building at 512 N. Killingsworth St. and constructing two additions – a dedicated space for a Black Cultural Center and a staff space expansion – to increase the square footage from 8,700 to 10,200.

“In addition to those two expansions, we’re completely renovating and seismically upgrading the rest of the building,” Kevin Kearns, Multnomah County‘s project manager for the North Portland Library project, said during a meeting of the county’s board of commissioners on Thursday.

During that meeting, the board approved a resolution for a guaranteed maximum price of slightly more than $8 million for project construction. Andersen Construction was selected as construction manager/general contractor.

LEVER Architecture partnered with Noll & Tam Architects of Berkeley, California, on the project’s design. That phase is now complete.

New building features will include a dedicated children’s area, a new welcome desk at the center of the main floor, two new restrooms, and an exterior walkway that will allow after-hours access to the Black Cultural Center and the updated community room.

The project’s budget is $12.8 million. Funding is coming from a 2020 bond measure approved by voters in 2020. The North Portland Library renovation and expansion is the fourth major project within the bond program to advance.

The library shut down in April to prepare for expansion. Construction mobilization will begin in June. Construction is expected to finish in June 2024. The library is scheduled to reopen that fall.

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The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District has hired Portland-based FFA Architecture and Interiors to perform pre-design for new branch libraries in Washougal, Woodland and Ridgefield, Wash.

Existing branches in these communities are too small, FVRL Executive Director Nancy Tessman said, adding that they were identified in a 2013 district facilities study as high priorities for replacement.

“They are really just not adequate, which the district has known for some time,” she said.

FFA staffers will help the district find adequate sites and determine the best layouts for three projects estimated to cost between $3.5 million and $4 million each, Tessman said.

“We’ll be working with FFA to really articulate what the building programs should be … Just really helping us describe more fully what it is we’re looking for,” she said.

District officials wanted an emphasis on community involvement in the design process, and FFA fit the bill.

“They’ve had a substantial amount of experience working in smaller, rural communities, which are kind of unique,” Tessman said. “We’re not looking for three cookie-cutter projects.”

The library district has set aside $1.5 million ($500,000 each) for the planned branch projects. Private fundraising and a bond measure could help cover remaining costs, Tessman said.

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In today’s tight economic times, budgeting for a library can be a challenge.

Gladstone elected officials are hoping that voters next week will pass a measure authorizing the city to take on $7.5 million in municipal bonds to help pay for construction of a $10 million library.

Proponents say a new library is needed because the existing one is severely inadequate. Opponents don’t argue that point, but say the city simply can’t afford what is being proposed.

Gladstone Mayor Wade Byers said the measure won’t cost taxpayers a thing.

“Residents currently pay 39 cents per $1,000 for a small, old library,” Byers said. “If we build a new library they’re going to pay 39 cents per $1,000. So I’ve struggled to understand their opposition.”

Byers referred to a property tax that Clackamas County voters approved in 2008 for the creation of a library district. That money covers operations at 14 libraries in the county; in fiscal year 2011-2012, Gladstone’s library received $547,000.

Gary Barth, business and community services director for the county, said it had sought to transfer library operations to cities. The county eventually stopped funding the libraries, but each one received a one-time $1 million payment for capital improvements.

Three libraries are in transition. Clackamas County is handing the Hoodland Public Library to the city of Sandy and the Sunnyside library to Happy Valley. The third, Oak Grove, is being closed and then merged with Gladstone’s under a new roof.

The county issued Gladstone $1.5 million more for construction. The bulk of Oak Grove’s annual library district money ($974,000 last year) would also be diverted to Gladstone.

Measure 3-413 would not issue any additional taxes, but instead use existing dollars and reallocated ones from the city of Gladstone urban renewal area and the general fund, to service the debt. On a 15- to 20-year repayment plan, the total cost after interest would run between $12.6 million and $13.6 million.

“The opposition is not to a library,” said Kim Sieckmann, a Gladstone resident associated with Save Gladstone, which opposes the measure. “The opposition is to this plan … they’re going to go in debt for this library. Well, with no new taxes that means they’re going to have to take it out of other places like the general fund and the urban renewal district. In the last several years, there has been no extra money in these funds. They’ve been used up every year. So that means there are things that are being done today that over the next 15 to 20 years of the debt will not be getting done.”

For instance, Sieckmann said Gladstone’s water, sewer and road systems are in need of upgrades. He said that infrastructure repairs should be considered alongside a new library.

Earlier this year, Save Gladstone hired a private accounting firm, Acuity Group PLLC of Vancouver, Wash., to vet the city’s library budget. The company released its report in October.

“Based on the city’s historical operating results and the projected library budget, this plan looks reasonable,” the report stated. “However, the city’s future economic outlook, a closer review of the library fund budget, and the city’s future capital cost requirements cause concern that this plan may not be feasible.”

Residents have vied for a new library for the better part of the past decade. JoAnna Rood, interim head librarian for the Gladstone library, said she can recall the issue being decided by voters in at least three past elections over the past 22 years.

The existing library is more than 50 years old; at approximately 5,500 square feet, it’s one of the county’s smallest, Rood said. Byers said it serves approximately 12,000 Gladstone residents and 8,000 to 9,000 others who live in unincorporated areas.

Rood said it has four computers, virtually no room for children’s programs and is simply overcrowded. She said many people mistakenly think that with the advent of the Internet, libraries have become obsolete. Smartphones may be used now for simple fact searching, she said, but libraries provide free professional services, resources, entertainment and social connections for people with limited means.

“How are you going to apply for jobs if you’ve lost a job and have no Internet?” she said. “There is a real need. (What about) immigrant people just moving into the country – people that don’t have the resources? What if your son is in Afghanistan and your Internet goes down? How will you stay in touch? You don’t need it until you need it – and when you need it, it better be there.”

The new 18,000-square-foot library would service approximately 48,000 people and has already cost the city approximately $1.19 million in planning and design fees – a sum it will not recover if the project were to stall. It would have moved ahead, but a new charter amendment enacted this year requires voter approval for any public project that either costs more than $1 million or results in the city incurring debt.

If voters were to reject Measure 3-413, the city of Gladstone also would have to return $1.5 million to the county.

Amy Masgai, a board member for the Gladstone Public Library Foundation, thinks the new library would be a community anchor. She envisions it hosting things like Christmas tree lightings. She hopes voters will recognize the urgency of the situation.

“The city can afford it and in fact this is our only opportunity to afford it,” she said. “Clackamas County redirected funding to Gladstone to build this. If we don’t get it through, we’re going to lose that funding and we’re going to lose the opportunity.”

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While Multnomah County is waiting until November to puts its library funding issues to a vote, Washington County is moving forward with two projects to improve its library system.

The first is the completion of the Hillsboro Main Library, which was built in 2000 but was left vacant until 2007 because of a lack of funding. The second floor of the library is still vacant and will be renovated as part of the project. The project will include building a number of meeting rooms, study rooms and book and seating spaces, according to Linda Lybecker, assistant director of the library. With the addition of the second floor, the library will be able to move some of its book sections from the first floor to expand its children services area.

The second project is a complete renovation of the Hillsboro Shute Park Branch Library, which was built in 1975. The renovation will include adding new mechanical systems, such as heating and electricity, new finishes and replacing the roof.

Construction on the main library project is expected to start in November and finish in June. The branch project will start shortly after and is expected to finish in March of 2014.

Bidding for the project is still open, according to Lybecker.

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Officials in Dallas, Ore., are still deciding whether they want to sell or lease the town’s aging Carnegie library, but they are certain about one thing: They need to spend money on the 101-year-old building so someone will eventually want to buy or lease it.

Kids Inc., a youth sports program, used the building until the boiler broke down in November. City officials announced plans this month to install a new heating and cooling system later this year. Even though new tenants are not coming in, Community Development Director John Locke said a heating and cooling system is necessary to maintain the integrity of the building.

The library was built in 1911 with $10,000 from philanthropist and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. It is one of 31 Carnegie libraries in Oregon. All told, Carnegie bankrolled some 2,510 libraries from 1883 to 1929 in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, Fiji and the Caribbean. Almost every town that applied for a library grant and agreed to Carnegie’s terms received money.

Almost every library had a lamppost or lantern as a symbol of enlightenment.

Dallas officials dedicated a new library in 1990.

The old Carnegie building has a split-level that makes it difficult for handicap accessibility. Its unique design provides an odd mixture of both possibilities and limitations, he said. There are no plans, he added, to demolish the building.

Other historic local buildings have not been so lucky. Dallas’ National Guard armory, just a year or so younger than the historic library, stood a couple of blocks away until it was demolished last April.

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The $38 million, 83,000-square-foot Vancouver Community Library is ready to go, and officials expect it to be successful.

“N��� libraries bring new patrons,” said Sue Vanlaanen, spokeswoman for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District.

When the library hosts its grand opening July 17, however, visitors looking out through the large atrium windows won’t see what planners had envisioned when the project began. The original master plan for the area, which included a boutique hotel, condominiums and office space, has been delayed indefinitely.

That plan also called for an underground parking garage, which would have included 200 spaces for library patrons. The garage was delayed as well.

Developer Killian Pacific announced its Riverwest development in 2005. In addition to the library, which was built on land donated by the developer, the Riverwest development would have included three mixed-use buildings and underground parking. In December 2008, Killian Pacific announced that it would delay work for at least a year. At the library ground-breaking in August 2009, Riverwest was renamed “Library Square.”

The original plan was for construction of all Library Square buildings to start and finish along the same timeline, but the 3.5-acre site is still vacant.

“The future of the project is going to be largely determined by market demand,” said Adam Tyler, a spokesman for Killian Pacific. The company plans to host marketing events this summer to seek office tenants for the next portion of the project, Tyler said.

However, the clock is ticking for Killian Pacific. The project’s parking structure is slated to be funded partially by tax increment financing, and those bonds need to be issued in 2014. The plan is then for the city to use $13 million in Local Infrastructure Financing Tool bonds to purchase part of the garage for library use; those bonds also need to be issued by 2014.

The project will need to be re-examined to “maximize the use of public funds,” said Alisa Pyszka, business development manager for the city of Vancouver.

While the rest of the project was delayed, the library went forward as planned. The building was funded primarily by a bond passed in September 2006 – so the project was not delayed when the recession hit, and its budget was never cut.

The first floor of the five-story building features 69 public-access computers and a teen area with three video game consoles, colored lights and furniture to accommodate movie nights.

The main attraction could be on the children’s floor, which has a large area for early-childhood play and learning with interactive exhibits like those seen at children’s museums.

The building’s top floor has a quiet reading room with a fireplace and a landscaped terrace with views of Mount Hood and downtown Portland.

“One advantage of us being ahead of the rest of the development (is that) we’ll have a nicer view for the next few years,” said Bruce Ziegman, executive director of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District.

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The Vancouver Community Library, a five-story, 83,000-square-foot structure, will open July 17. The building was designed by Miller Hull Partnership and constructed by Howard S. Wright.

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A new, modern building in downtown Vancouver, Wash., will let the Fort Vancouver Regional Library spread out.

The four-story, 90,000-square-foot structure designed by of Seattle will provide three times as much space as the library has now, and will include indoor and outdoor meeting and presentation space to accommodate civic events.

“We did a lot of community outreach for the design, and one piece that spilled out of that conversation was an early learning center,” said Miller Hull’s Adin Dunning, lead architect for the project. The library district’s emphasis on early learning and early literacy inspired the inclusion of a space similar to a children’s museum.

“One of the most striking pieces in the building is a four-story art wall in the atrium,” Dunning said. The wall will feature a collage of words, images and colors as well as touch-screen TVs advertising events that are happening in the library and the community.

Some areas, such as a fifth-floor rooftop terrace with views of the city, were designed to let visitors linger comfortably.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification is being targeted for the building, which will include energy conservation features as well as a raised access floor.

“It’s going to be a really nice community asset,” Dunning said.

is the contractor for the project. The building is scheduled to open to the public in mid-July.

The Miller Hull project team also includes principal Ruth Coates and partner Craig Curtis.

Other project partners include: , mechanical and electrical; , structural engineering; Mayer/Reed, landscaping and environmental graphics; and , civil engineering.

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