Posted August 4, 2003.

San Jose’s Joint-Use Library Opens

After six-and-a-half years of planning, the first U.S. library to be funded, managed, and operated by both a city and a major university opened August 1 in San Jose, California. The new 475,000-square-foot Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library serves both the citizens of San Jose and the students, staff, and faculty of San Jose State University.

SJSU officials said the new $177.5-million facility, located on the university’s main campus, is “not only a model of creative partnerships and resource sharing, it is a model for libraries of the future.” The library also debuted a new website that emphasizes the partnership.

The collaboration has met with opposition in the past, including a 1999 report by a state legislative analyst who called the proposal unnecessary and too costly.

“There’s a lot of anxiety,” Library Director Jane Light said in the San Jose Mercury-News the day before the opening. “It’s the pre-wedding jitters.” A grand-opening dedication scheduled for August 16 will feature games, tours, contests, and a Guinness Read-Aloud Challenge in which staff will attempt to break the world record of 53 hours for continuous reading out loud.

Posted August 4, 2003.