Posted December 3, 2004.

California Awards $80 Million in Library Construction Grants

Lafayette was one of the big winners in the latest round of grants awarded by the California Public Library Construction and Renovation Board November 29. The city will receive $11.9 million to construct a new building to replace a crowded 42-year-old facility that does not meet building-code requirements. The ambitious new joint-use learning center—to be called the Glenn Seaborg Learning Consortium after the Nobel-prize-winning chemist from the Bay Area—will be a collaboration between the city, local schools, and 12 educational and cultural institutions.

Lafayette school board member Roger Falcone said in the November 30 Contra Costa Times that the state library construction board was particularly impressed with the “novelty and excitement” of the consortium plans.

This round of grants is the last of three award cycles established by the $350-million Library Bond Act of 2000. A total of 72 cities competed for more than $80 million in grants, which went to 12 cities planning to build new libraries or renovate existing ones. Other award winners included Fontana, Oakland, Sacramento, Castro Valley, San Francisco, Acton, and Lawndale.

Oakland Public Library Director Carmen Martinez told the Oakland Tribune she was “elated” when she heard the board was granting her $6.5 million to build a new 28,112-square-foot branch on 81st Avenue. “This is a very-much-needed library for an underserved area of East Oakland,” she said.

In 2006, Californians are scheduled to vote on a new statewide bond measure that will give an additional $600 million for the Office of Library Construction to distribute.

Posted December 3, 2004.