The Friends of the Mount Rainier Library find compelling reasons why a library of sufficient size and service capability is likely to have a dramatic positive effect on Mount Rainier's town center revitalization.
All around the country, libraries are generating interest as economic and community development boosts for businesses, as well as facilities that provide diverse opportunities for improving the quality of life at all socio-economic levels.
Abdallah's, at the corner of Rhode Island Avenue and 34th Street, is one location that the Friends of the Mount Rainier Library have been evaluating. We see this site as a potentially exciting location for a new library. At this site, we envision a new Mount Rainier Library as one with added features that make it valuable for the community-and for revitalization.
This prime corner location raises potential benefits for both public and private sector developments.
In the right location, the library becomes a hub of the community, drawing and naturally diversifying businesses.
Building new, the site could accommodate a cafe and another retail use, a public library with at least one community room for after-school programs and other activities, artists' live-work spaces, and a parking garage. Research shows marketing successes for public libraries integrated with cafes or restaurants.
The topography of this location can accommodate a ground-level parking facility. Its larger footprint presents an excellent opportunity for developing a 25-car parking garage or drive-through carport. It could support the increased demand for parking by new library patrons, new arts developments, and spin-off businesses.
As the American Library Association notes, the Library's mission is to provide equal service to diverse populations of all socio-economic levels of society.
The Friends of the Mount Rainier Library have reviewed authoritative texts on library site selection by the American Library Association and others. These texts conclude that, if sited and sized properly, a public library can be an important stimulant to economic and community development.
Library modernization is another rare chance to "lead by example" in stimulating revitalization. The Mount Rainier Public Library can become a true activity and cultural center that attracts local residents into the town center and improves the enviromnent for business revitalization. A vibrant library has the look and feel of a bookstore and fits nicely into a retail business area. The library should be an active, enjoyable community institution-a public sector "anchor." Thus, development of a modernized library could provide a major opportunity to help revitalize the town center. Library planning texts provide almost uniform recommendations about the criteria for choosing a library site. In his classic work, Planning the Small Public Library Building, Anders Dahlgren sums up these recommendations: "Too frequently, when library sites are being suggested, there is a tendency to locate them as part of a municipal complex, or adjacent to a park, or to share a site or a building with some other public entity-a school, perhaps in the interest of saving money. There is a wealth of information available to counter the wisdom of those suggestions, but one can usually turn to the need for accessibility to respond to any such community or political pressures." (p. 8)
A public library's priority is to meet informational and service needs of the public. Its mission is to provide equal service to diverse populations of all socio-economic levels of society at minimal or no cost. As a result, the public library draws a broad customer base. Furthermore, in her 1977 work, Library Facility Siting and Location Handbook, Christine Koontz observes that "Towns build libraries very infrequently, on the average about once in forty years. Yet they will be used by more citizens than any other building in town. Libraries are used by children, students, business people, do-it-yourselfers, artists, writers, taxpayers, people learning new skills, professionals updating their knowledge. The library must be in a location where it can be constantly visible to all of these people." (p. 6)
For at least three major reasons, the Abdallah's site is the best location in town for a new library:
The Friends of the Mount Rainier Library have evaluated multiple sites for a new library. Abdallah's, at the southwest corner 34th Street and Rhode Island Avenue, is the site that best meets library siting criteria and best serves the broader community. Our vision for the Abdallah's site is to build new. We have based our conclusion on important aspects of community and economic development for Mount Rainier.
Building new, the footprint of the current building could be enlarged for more usable space. In addition to a library with a community room, a cafe, other retail, and artists' live-work space, the new building could accommodate space for non-profit ventures and a parking garage.
The topography of this location naturally lends itself to a 25-car parking garage or drive-through carport, unlike other sites in the town center. Building new at the Abdallah's site could allow the important feature of downtown parking to be a viable addition, for use by library patrons and customers of new arts development and spin-off businesses.
The expanded footprint could support a storefront cafe and retail space. The layout of the library could be such that the most active areas of the library would be visible to the public, therefore creating the look and feel of a mall, to promote business opportunities. In addition, a public restroom could be located near the entrance, serving not only the library, but the cafe, retail space, and library community room as well. The restroom would then be conveniently accessible for activities after the library has closed, potentially increasing community nighttime activity in the town center.
Finally, it is possible that a three-story building could exist with grace and elegance at the Abdallah's location, unlike other sites on Rhode Island Avenue that cannot visually support or make the impact needed for revitalization of the town center.
Public libraries with cafes and restaurants are growing in number all around the country. The Friends of the Mount Rainier Library have uncovered success stories of library-cafe collaborations all across America. In Hawaii, a food cart operated by the State Library Foundation at a branch library brings in an average of $1,000 a month from island beverages, light foods, and vendor items. Listed here are a few of the successes reported on food in the library by the Public Library Association 2000:
A vendor operates an espresso bar called "Espress Oh!" It is located on The Bridge, an enclosed space connecting the old and new libraries, with tables and chairs provided. The vendor recently added grilled sandwiches and gourmet soups to the menu. Beverages are allowed in the library. This popular service has been averaging $275 per month, or 3% of the library's gross revenue.
Owned and operated by the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation, "Coffee with a Conscience" was staffed as a coffee cart in the rotunda in January 1995 and is now a coffee bar. Located in a separate room adjacent to the main hallway of the used-book store, the coffee bar serves as classroom and its day-to-day operations as instruction for emerging entrepreneurs. Space is also given to exhibit some clients' products. The corporation pays a monthly rental fee of $100 to the Friends of the Library.
In the first library that Starbucks ever partnered with, an espresso bar run by the coffeehouse giant is called "The Starbucks at Central." (The company recently opened a second shop in a library on the East Coast.) A Starbucks representative expressed how proud they are of their library and how happy they were to form the partnership. Beverages are allowed in the reading room where the Starbucks is located. The library receives $1,000 rent per month or 10% of the gross receipts, whichever is higher. Starbucks also agreed to participate in library sponsorships.
Members of the Friends of the Mount Rainier Library attended the opening of The Village Learning Place in Baltimore. In this renovated Baltimore library, a group of teens called the Youth Entrepreneur Associates have started and will run a cafe. We spoke with library staff and the young entrepreneurs, and all are excited and predicting success for the library and cafe.
Click here Illustration
Click here Village Learning Place, Baltimore
