WebJunction

On September 27, 2003, the Douglas County Libraries opened its newest showcase. The Philip S. Miller Library, named after a longtime local benefactor, was a 45,000 square foot renovation of a former Safeway grocery store in downtown Castle Rock. (The previous Philip S. Miller Library had been just 15,000 square feet, and was on the far side of the railroad tracks.)

This wasn't our first new branch. Over the past decade, Douglas County has been the fastest growing county in the country, and we have built or renovated a library every year. But the new Philip S. Miller Library is our biggest.

Naturally, we saw a significant bump in use after the grand opening . By the end of October, we experienced an increase of 28.2% over the circulation of the previous October. Adult reference statistics climbed by 83.5 percent; reference use by young people, drawn to our new children's room and our even more intriguing Teen Tower, soared by a remarkable 179 percent. Patron registration jumped by almost 190 percent.

But there was another dimension to this library success story. Throughout the project, we got a lot of press coverage. The business community was strongly supportive of the move. Although the library is an independent, county-wide district, the local town officials were also enthusiastic and cooperative. Why?

As director of the library district, I talked to a lot of people. I heard a consistent pattern of comments. People said something that is heard too seldom from outside our profession: “the library makes a difference.”

Timing

The construction of the new library came at a good time for the town. As with many of the municipalities in Colorado, Castle Rock sales tax revenues were dropping. After the 9-11 terrorist attack, business activity was sluggish. Most new construction took place on the outskirts of town, and consisted of stark and soulless strip malls populated by all the usual franchises.

The south end of Wilcox, Castle Rock's main street, had fallen into decline. There was a strip mall there, too, but almost half the rentals were vacant. After the Safeway grocery store moved out, there was no anchor store.

At first, not everyone embraced the idea of the library buying the old building. Libraries don't generate sales tax revenue. Neighboring businesses felt that people who go to the library aren't shopping.

Then we started sharing some of our numbers. Over 75% of the households in the county have and use a library card. Our demographics almost exactly match census profiles, often to within a percent of every age category. Moreover, the old building reported traffic of 40,000 people per month; we confidently predicted 60,000 people per month.

As I put it to a local businessperson: “the library is an anchor store that won't go out of business, no matter how bad the economy gets. In fact, the worse it gets, the more traffic we see.”

The Buzz

Shortly after the purchase, we launched a series of focus groups around the town. We talked to our business neighbors, to the seniors, to the economic development people, to area elementary schools. All were encouraged to come up with what they would most like to see in the new library.

According to Pam Ridler, Executive Director of the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce, “Those focus groups started people thinking. The library asked us what we wanted, and took our suggestions seriously.” Moreover, she said, “It's always a struggle to get people to come downtown. You could tell just by trying to find a spot at the old library parking lot that a lot of people were using it.”

Matthew Vuletich, editor of the Douglas County News Press, said, “The story got our attention because the library is a significant part of the community. It is both the memory, and the soapbox of the town. It is well-connected to community. If we hadn't picked it up as a story ourselves, I think the community would have forced us to.”

Susan Dage-Ruby, one of the lead reporters for the library coverage, said, “the library story was newsworthy because it was fiscally sound.” We paid cash for the purchase of the old building. After selling the old building to the school district for an alternative school, we were able to pay for the renovation costs with cash, too.

Dage-Ruby said, “The library's decision represented a big move toward revitalizing downtown.” Indeed, between our well-publicized purchase of the building, and before we started construction, the strip mall to the south did a complete facelift. The owners also talked to our architects to incorporate our ideas for a redesign of the parking lot to something friendlier to pedestrians, and much easier on the eyes. A new office building was planned next to the library property. A bank in the strip mall remodeled. The weekly Farmer's Market relocated to the end of the strip.

That summer, the library also held a tent performance, right in the library parking lot, of Shakespeare's “King Lear.” Every performance was “sold out” (the tickets were free, but you did have to come get them) for each show in its five night run. We also held a “battle of the bands,” attended by some 500 young adults, also in the parking lot.

Dage-Ruby described the change as “drastic. That whole area went from a dilapidated strip mall to a live pulse.”

The Library is Open

Our Grand Opening had all kinds of ceremony. We had a children's parade from the old building to the new. The Masons dedicated the building. We had an articulate keynote speaker in Regi Rivers, a former Denver Broncos football hero, and now an ardent free speech advocate. During the day, an historic band performed, at the site of the future location of a library-hosted bandstand. In the evening, a blue grass band took over. In our new conference center, we had a business expo, both for our downtown neighbors, and for various cultural non-profit organizations. Some 3,000 people showed up throughout the day. I found many of them staring at various art pieces in the building (our Rube Goldberg-ish device in the children's room, and our hanging sculpture in the Teen Tower, “Bob,” were the most popular).

Vuletich commented, “It's a cultural thing; other cultural attractions follow. Before the new library, I thought of that as a dull section in a long strip mall. Now the library is a hub, and all the spokes connect to it.”

Just a week after our opening, the library hosted a town-sponsored “charrette.” We invited areas residents, town planners, business people, and others, to come in and reimagine a new town, 20 years from now. The library's meeting space - one large room, and four breakout rooms, all of them furnished with self-healing walls, lots of stickpins, and reams of flip charts - was convenient not only for the sessions, but for the catered meals. Town planners and participants agreed: “holding this at the new library was perfect. This is exactly the kind of development we want to encourage.”

Meme Dunkle Martin, executive director of the Castle Rock Economic Development Council, said, “Now I come into the library more often because of all the meetings. And I see more business people.” She describes it as “the convenience effect.” The library is now on the same street as county offices, town offices, and school district offices. Our wifi network and PCs let people check their email. They browse magazines. Martin offers another observation: “Many new businesses have gotten away from just a cost basis. They used to say, 'Tell me about the potential employees here. And what does the land cost?' Now they want to know what the whole community offers.” The trend, she says, is away from just economic development. Today's companies are interested in community development. And clearly, she says, “today's library serves multiple purposes. It is a true community asset.”

You are free to copy, distribute, display, make derivative works, or make commercial use of this article, provided you give the original author (James LaRue) credit.