Where will the new library be located?

The City is negotiating with landowners in the historic downtown area to buy land for our new facility. Those negotiations are going well, and we expect things to be complete within the next four months. The locations won’t be disclosed until agreements with all the landowners are complete. Publicity about the locations could complicate those negotiations and would compromise the privacy of those landowners. The City hopes to finalize negotiations and announce the location in early 2008.
When will work begin? After the land is purchased, the project will be put out to bid and must be designed by an architect. The City hopes to break ground in December, 2008, with the building finished in 2010. - Dan Black

Funding

Several patrons have asked how the city will pay for a new library. In late 2006, the City Council adopted an Urban Renewal District, which provides funding for redevelopment efforts. The plan calls for investing about $36 million in a new library, the cornerstone of a downtown redevelopment effort. Other aspects include a new police headquarters, green space, parking garages and streetscapes. About $80 million of public investment will generate an estimated $325 million in private investment downtown over the next decade. The plan also provides industrial infrastructure such as sewer and water service to attract employers and jobs on Nampa’s northwest side. The funding mechanism, Urban Renewal, is a tool that focuses tax revenue from new development toward the project. It does not raise taxes. It simply dedicates new tax revenue toward projects that aid the local economy.
- Dan Black

Parking--Good news

As Summer Reading concludes many customers are breathing a sigh of relief since parking will be more readily available. Some numbers to consider: on Saturday June 2, 2007 (Summer Reading Kickoff) there were 2252 customers who exited our building; during July there were 15 days of the 25 we were open that had more than 1200 customers. Where did you park? Were you able to get one of our 16 existing parking spaces? Did you park on the street? Did you ride your bicycle or skateboard? Did you walk? Did you park in the auxiliary parking across the street? We’re so glad you battled parking to visit us and spend some time here!

Even though the parking situation seems grim, there is good news. The new building proposal includes a parking garage that will be adjacent to the building and will have lots of parking spaces! It is our goal to have these spaces free of charge for our customers.

Spaces for Teens

Teens are excited and so are we! Nampa Public Library’s teen group, T.A.L.K., is off to a great start and they have already contributed many ideas for new programming and the new building. In some of the community forums teen spaces were discussed and include cool things like display areas, comfy seating and places to visit.

Here are some pictures I took at the Salt Lake Public Library that made me think of the spaces we’ll have for our teens.

Fresh Ideas!

Three NPL librarians attended the 2007 conference of the American Library Association, and each brought back ideas for a new building as well as ideas for improved services. They returned with books. They brought back flyers and brochures about library furnishings and equipment. They made contacts with vendors. They took notes at programs about library services and facilities.

A few quotes about library buildings from their reports:
· Browsing activities should be seen from the street – seeing other people looking at books draws other people into the library.
· A library is important as ‘people space,’ similar in some ways to a bookstore.
· Images showed children’s spaces featuring lots of curves and flow, and one showed an outdoor garden for children.
· Signage and graphics were extremely important to give people a feeling of empowerment.
· Clear clutter and improve basic cleanliness, which is very important to customers.
· A café or coffee shop connects people to the library.

Wifi at the Library?

You bet! Wifi technology is planned for the new library building and it should be robust and accessible in all of the planned nooks and comfy seating. Imagine being able to read your email from anywhere in the library with your own computer. Not only will you have access to all of your own materials but it will free up the public internet computers for more people. Of course, we plan to have even more public internet access computers in the new space—it will be a great place to work and explore!

Even better--Nampa Public Library started a pilot Wireless Internet program in our current building. Several of our customers have already found the new service useful. So when you see someone using the internet on a laptop—they are probably using wifi!

To learn more about wifi click here .

Shhh! We want QUIET!

Library enthusiasts at public forums and other discussions see-sawed on the question of quiet spaces versus reasonably noisy spaces. The conclusion was always that Nampa needs both, and our new library should have room for both kinds of library environment. People should be comfortable using normal ‘inside’ voices in high traffic areas and children’s or teen areas, and those who want a very quiet place should be able to enjoy a quiet reading/study lounge – without cell phones. Requests for quiet areas came from the teen focus group as well as the general ones! If you prefer a very quiet environment in which to read and study, look forward to a glass enclosed area with a view! The building program calls for a quiet reading room, with six lounge chairs and 12 individual study tables. Preliminary sketches have a gas fireplace in the reading room.

Karen Ganske