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Cedar Rapids Public Library
Building Revitalization
The Past  The Cedar Rapids Public Library was established in 1895. In the early years, the library was located in a variety of locations including upper floors of the Granby and Dows buildings. In 1901, Andrew Carnegie pledged to donate $75,000 to the construction of a new Library. The Carnegie library opened in the spring of 1905. Over the next 80 years, there were continuous expansion projects at the Carnegie Library. After multiple additions, the library was on nine different levels, only three of which were served by elevators. These additions included a children’s room, garages for the bookmobiles, public reading rooms and administrative offices. It was during this same time period that several reading stations were established. The number was always changing, but at times there were more than a dozen branch libraries. The Present  As early as 1969, it was recognized by the Library Board that a replacement was needed for the Carnegie building. Much of the book and magazine collection was in storage in the basement and had to be retrieved by library staff. In 1981, the Hall Foundation pledged a 6.8 million dollar grant to build a new library. Another one million dollars was raised from private contributors. The City of Cedar Rapids contributed the site and various street improvements for the area of the new library. The new library opened in 1985 and has seen constant and heavy use since. In the years since opening, the current Cedar Rapids Library has seen over TEN million visitors. Over TWENTY million books have been checked out and countless newspapers and magazines have been read within its walls. Tens of thousands of people have attended classes, story hours and other presentations at the library. Thousands of people have used the various meeting rooms. The Future As the library approaches its 25th anniversary, the Library Board realizes that during the past 21 years, the Library has been used very heavily. Tim Hill, President of the library board, says that it is time for a revitalization of the library building. Rather than constructing a new downtown building, the library board is analyzing the problems at the current building and resolving them. To that end, the Library Board commissioned a needs assessment survey by George Lawson, a nationally recognized Library consultant. George Lawson has also recently completed needs assessment projects for other libraries in the area including Marion, Hiawatha and Fairfax. This report concluded that the downtown library has become worn and dated and is in need of "significant renewal." On the following pages, you will find the complete details of those needs assessments. Phase One - Cedar Rapids Public Library - Needs Assessment After accepting the Need Assessments for both the Downtown Library and the West Side Branch Library, the Library Board asked George Lawson to develop Building Program Documents for both faciliites. Phase Two - Planning for the Future - Building Program |