Library report says expansion should double building's size
Bad comparisons skew some figures in report
And don't forget parking
By Jeff Kearns
The library needs assessment report couldn't be any clearer. "... The Los Gatos Public Library Building, while attractive to many, is woefully inadequate to provide modern library service to Los Gatos residents," it says. "The library is in desperate need of more space just to continue to provide the collection, services, and staff that are now offered."
The draft report, which was presented to councilmembers for the first time March 22, concludes that the building needs to be at least doubled in size to serve a town the size of Los Gatos. The report, compiled by Professional Library Consultants, cost the town $23,505.
Town officials found many glaring errors in some of the comparisons to other libraries around the country, but maintain that the basic conclusion of the report is right on.
The independent consulting company which wrote the report compares the town to other similarly sized cities, but population, it seems, is about all that Los Gatos has in common with towns like North Platte, Neb.; Bangor, Maine; Puyallup, Wash; and both East and West Islip, N.Y. The only other California city profiled in the report is Benicia. As a result of the inconsistent comparisons, some numbers generated by the report were heavily skewed. "Average librarian salaries in the Bay Area are about 48 percent higher than the nationwide average," says library director Gloria Grimes.
Grimes says she's already started on some of the report's recommendations that don't require more square footage. Internet classes are now offered on a regular basis; the lending period may be increased from two to three weeks; efforts to weed the collection are being stepped up, and online reference sources are replacing bulky, multivolume books and periodicals.
Los Gatos Library: Information on operating hours, services, and links to the online card catalog.
Silicon Valley Library System: An online catalog of books, videos, and other items in the public libraries in Santa Clara County.
But those moves can just accomplish so much without the addition of more space. Internet classes, for example, are taught downstairs in the middle of the reference section, and there are no conference rooms for meetings or areas for special events. Basic titles that should be part of any library's collection but don't circulate often will soon have to be put in off-site storage.
"The community needs to understand that there's a limit to what we can do within these four walls," says Grimes, who has another librarian shoehorned into her own private office.
The collection includes about 123,000 books, and adds around 7,000 titles per year. To make room for the new books, about the same number are weeded each year, and handed over to the Friends of the Library, which sells some of the books on-site. The rest are given away.
As far as where the new building will go, focus groups and public meetings showed residents overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the library at the Civic Center.
But if there, where?
The two most viable options, according to an architect working with the consultant, are to expand the south side of the library toward the Police Department or to build a new building on the library parking lot, which could mean that the Town Hall parking lot would need a second level.
The other option is to build a new library on the west lot, and build a parking garage behind it. The old library would then be retrofitted as office space, possibly for the Police Department, which has serious space problems of its own.
Expanding out into the open space in front of the Civic Center isn't an option, according to the Planning Department. And the library is "too small a facility to occupy three floors," the report says.
According to the report, the new library should include other basic amenities, such as a quiet study room, individual staff work space, a public conference room, story-hour space for 60 patrons, exhibit space, a computer lab and individual study rooms.
But what's an issue in town without the specter of parking? The report also says that the library needs parking for at least 100 cars (it has 23 spaces now) and that any parking solution for the library should take into account the parking shortage for the whole Civic Center.
Grimes also has other plans to increase circulation at the library, including dropping the non-resident fee. Grimes raised the issue at a March 22 meeting with councilmembers, who, she says, seemed receptive to a one-year trial period for dropping non-resident fees for non-resident students who attend Los Gatos schools. The Library Board has already backed the trial.
Eventually, the library may rejoin the Silicon Valley Library System, which it left in 1993 in favor of a residents-only system, Grimes says.
Los Gatos is one of only four libraries in Northern California that doesn't belong to a larger system.
The Library Board will discuss the final needs assessment report and non-resident fees April 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Neighborhood Center and forward a recommendation to the Town Council, which considers the library issues May 17.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
