Background

The Los Angeles Public Library Branch Facilities Plan was adopted by the Board of Library Commissioners in 1988.  It consisted of two components - a Site Selection Guidelines that set standards for the size and features of branches based on location and the population served in each community, and a List of Projects, identifying the facility status and need of each existing branch library and identifying the need for branch libraries in communities without existing libraries. 

The Facilities Plan established criteria for the size of libraries.  The plan recommended building 10,500 square foot (s.f.) facilities for communities with less than 50,000 population and 12,500 s.f. libraries for communities with more than 50,000 population. 

When the Branch Facilities Plan was first adopted eighteen years ago, only a few of the 63 branch libraries met the standards established in the Site Selection Guidelines. 

The Branch Facilities Plan was implemented through back-to-back Bond Measures approved by more than 2/3rds of the voters of Los Angeles.  Phase I was the 1989 Bond Program.  It provided $53.4 million for 26 projects.  Twenty-nine libraries were built in the 1989 bond program.  The Los Angeles Public Library successfully obtained additional funds from the Community Development Block Grant award of Federal funds, from the California State Library Proposition 85, and from Friends of the Library groups for a total branch construction program of $108 million.

Phase II was the 1998 Bond Program.  It provided $178.3 million for 32 projects. The original 32 projects in the 1998 bond program were built on time and under budget.  Four additional projects were added through managed savings, Friends of the Library contributions, and a California State Library Proposition 14 grant for a total construction program of $226.3 million.  Two of the added projects are completed and two are under construction.   Thus far, a total of 64 facilities have been built and/or renovated under the two Bond Programs.  Through separate funding, during this same time period, the landmark Central Library was renovated and expanded to more than double the size of the historic building. 

The entire original Facilities Plan is completed except for the two remaining projects that were added to the 1998 Bond Program (Exposition Park Regional Branch – which began construction in December 2006; and Silver Lake Branch – which will go to construction by June 2007).
          

The 1988 Branch Facilities Plan became the blueprint for the most significant change in the Los Angeles Public Library infrastructure in its history.  Based on the facilities plan and the construction funds obtained in the subsequent bond issues, 90% of the library infrastructure was replaced in a fifteen-year period.  The Los Angeles Public Library completed the largest public library building program in the nation on time and under budget.  Library space in new and renovated state-of-the-art facilities was more than doubled from 700,000 square feet to more than 1,400,000 square feet in the Central Library and 71 branch libraries in the City of Los Angeles.

Process

Since the adoption of the original Branch Facilities Plan, the City of Los Angeles and the demand for public library services have continued to grow and thrive.  Two years ago, in anticipation of the completion of the 1988 Branch Facilities Plan, the Los Angeles Public Library started to plan for the future by analyzing current and future library services and facilities needs and population growth projections to the year 2030.

The library service and facility needs assessments were conducted by staff.   They included the gathering of information through research, library use statistics and experiences at branch libraries.  Staff also used feedback from the public received at more than 300 community meetings that were conducted in its branch library construction program.  Information and ideas from the thousands of people who participated in the meetings in every neighborhood in the city contributed to the identification of the library’s most significant needs and future development.  Information from that extensive process has been used in this Revised Branch Facilities Plan.

A preliminary revision to the Branch Facilities Plan was drafted by staff and presented to the Board of Library Commissioners in March 2006.  The Draft Revision to the Branch Facilities Plan was adopted by the Library Commission as a first step in taking the findings out to the communities, the Mayor, the City Council, and other stakeholders for their input.

The City Librarian and Director of the Library Facilities Division met with the Mayor’s staff and with each Council member in April, May and June 2006 to review the draft revision and the Proposed Project List and to discuss recommendations for communities in the individual Council Districts.

From August to December 2006, the Library conducted nine regional community meetings throughout the city to inform the public of the proposed Draft Revision and to get their suggestions and comments.  The meetings were held at the Angeles Mesa Branch, Benjamin Franklin Branch, Granada Hills Branch, Junipero Serra Branch, Malabar Branch, Panorama City Branch, Pio Pico – Koreatown Branch, San Pedro Regional Branch and West Los Angeles Regional Branch.  A Spanish language translator was present at all the meetings to make sure people who only spoke Spanish could understand and could make their concerns known.

The Library also posted the Draft Revision on the LAPL Web site to enable comments from the public. 

The Library has taken specific testimony during 2006 about the proposed revision to the Branch Facilities Plan and future development of libraries from hundreds of people throughout the City of Los Angeles and accepted petitions, phone calls, and scores of e-mail comments about the plan.

The City Librarian and Facilities Director have also met with other stakeholders, including the Los Angeles Conservancy and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, to discuss the development of new libraries.

Branch Facilities Plan Revision

As a result of public input, a number of changes have been made to the March 2006 Draft Revision to the Branch Facilities Plan.  The changes have been incorporated in the attached Branch Facilities Plan and include:

• Removal of Malabar and Wilshire Branch Libraries from the Proposed Project List because both communities strongly oppose leaving the historic building and relocating the library;
• Deletion of the Westwood Branch project because the Department of Recreation and Parks is purchasing the adjacent vacant lot with Quimby funds for its development into a library park;
• Increase West Los Angeles’ building size from 14,500 s.f. to 20,000 s.f. because it is a Regional Branch Library and add a contingency plan to build a new building and parking on new site if additional land cannot be acquired behind the current site;
• Addition of 3 projects in the “Existing Branches” category - new buildings on their same sites for the Benjamin Franklin Branch and the Eagle Rock Branch Libraries and the renovation of the Echo Park Branch Library;
• Addition of 2 projects in the “New Branches” category – one in the East Valley/Valley Glen area and one in the Mulholland Drive area.

The Criteria for New Libraries (formerly Site Selection Guidelines) proposes building larger libraries.  The recommended sizes are 12,500 s.f. facilities for communities with less than 45,000 population and 14,500 s.f. facilities for communities with more than 45,000 population.  It also recommends that when a community reaches a population of 90,000, an additional branch library should be considered for that area. 

The Proposed Project List includes a total of 19 projects:

• 2 renovations – Atwater and Echo Park;
• 3 new buildings on same sites – Benjamin Franklin, Eagle Rock and West Los Angeles;
• 6 relocations with new buildings on new sites – Angeles Mesa, Felipe de Neve, Granada Hills, Robert L. Stevenson, Van Nuys and Vermont Square;
• 8 new libraries in areas that currently do not have a library – Arleta, East Valley/Valley Glen, Lake Balboa, Mission Hills, Mulholland, Southeast Los Angeles, West Hills and West San Pedro.

This Branch Facilities Plan will be presented to the Board of Library Commissioners for their review and approval at a regular Board meeting on February 8, 2007.  Library staff has notified everyone who attended community meetings about the Board meeting.  The revised criteria and project list have been sent to them. 

The adopted plan will become the base document for future development of the Los Angeles Public Library including the preparation of cost estimates for property acquisition, design and construction of the proposed library projects and the analysis of options for obtaining funding to build the new libraries. There are currently no funding sources to begin the development of the project list for new and renovated library facilities.