Citizens for Sunnyvale Parks & Green Spaces: A 200,000 Sq. Ft. Library?

Introduction: Someone suggested Sunnyvale should have a 200,000 sq. ft. library. That is big!

For comparison, the Santa Clara main library is 2-stories of 40,000 sq. ft. each = 80,000 square feet. A 200,000 sq. ft. library would be a 5-story version of Santa Clara's. When most people see a 144,500 sq. ft. library - the size of the proposed "2007 Library of the Future" - they respond "Oh, that's too big for Sunnyvale!".

See previous posts showing what the $108M 2007 bond issue proposal would look like here:
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2015/10/library-of-future-143k-sf-buildings.html
and here:
http://cspgs.blogspot.com/2015/09/say-how-big-is-that-library.html

But 200,000 sq. ft. libraries do exist so let's see them. (If the photos don't show when you click on them, try refreshing your web browser page - usually works for me.)

By Michael Goldman, co-founder with Deborah Marks of Citizens for Sunnyvale Parks and Green Spaces

To sign up for quarterly newsletters and updates send your email address to: CSPGSinfo@yahoo.com All addresses and names kept in strictest confidence - not released to any person, government agency, or organization.

Deborah Marks is also leader of Sunnyvale Urban Forests Advocates

http://www.SunnyvaleUrbanForestAdvocates.org/

St. Louis, Missouri

The St. Louis, Missouri Central Library was built in 1912 when St. Louis' population was about 700,000, the 4th largest in the US. The city population peaked in 1950 at 857,000 and has since declined steadily to its current 317,000. It is the center of a metropolitan area of 2.9M people. The main library originally cost $1.5M of which $1M was donated by Andrew Carnegie.

Click to enlarge

Recent renovation filled in the interior court and added a rear wing to bring it to 200,000 sq.ft.

Click any photo to enlarge

The major renovation costs were shared by the city, state, federal government, and private donations. Much of the motivation was to try to revitalize the downtown.

Tons more pictures on the web.
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/06/buildings/lbd/growing-room-st-louis-public-librarys-grand-central-renovation/#_
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis#Landmarks_and_monuments
Nice video on it's history here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjl885oEzXk

Kellogg Library - CSU San Marcos

San Marcos is a little inland from Carlsbad to the north of San Diego. CSU San Marcos has just over 10,000 students - about 1/3rd the number at San Jose State.

"The five-story, 200,000-square-foot Kellogg Library cost $48 million and opened in Spring 2004. In addition to library collections, services and staff, the building houses academic computing offices, the Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents, the Student Computer Help Desk, the Faculty Center, the Learning Assistance Program, a Technology Resource Center, video recording studios and edit rooms, a 100-seat open computer lab, four 60-seat classrooms, one 80-seat classroom, the campus satellite copy center, and Starbuck's coffee shop."

from: https://www.csusm.edu/pdc/Projects_Completed/KellLib_Complete.html

Click any photo to enlarge

A large library on a college campus makes sense because college students need a place away from the crowded dorm room, or noisy apartment room-mates to study or do a group project with other students. In a medium-sized city like Sunnyvale, the most common users of physical libraries are kids and middle and high school students. They can't drive so neighborhood branches they can walk to make the most sense. Adults are migrating to eBooks and eMedia very rapidly. In some larger cities, the largest circulation "library" is the "virtual branch" with electronic books and media.

Partly funded by the Kellogg family of cereal fame.

http://news.csusm.edu/stories-behind-building-names
http://hope-amundson.com/projects/csu-san-marcos-kellogg-library/

Yonkers, NY Central Library

The new main library was opened in 2002, contains an area of 200,000 square feet and 4 stories. The project involved gutting, refacing and expanding by 40,000 square feet the original 160,000-square-foot, 77-year-old building, which Otis Elevator had occupied until 1983. I could not find any interior photos of the library or the architect who designed it. Very unusual.

Click on Any Photo to Enlarge

It replaced the Carnegie Library built in 1902. Note the more appealing exterior design. In which one? Ah - good question.

Post Card of Old Carnegie Library - Click to Enlarge

Main Interior Room - Click to Enlarge

Photo from the 1950s - Click to Enlarge

There are few interior shots of the old Carnegie Library but it evidently had some nice murals and frescoes. Anyone who has seen a preserved Carnegie Library (some places value their history - strange but true) knows they could be very appealing inside with nice detail and wood accents.