News - Local

Published: Saturday, Jul. 25, 2009

Atascadero library supporters thinking big

Nearly $1 million has been raised to double its size; a fundraiser is set for tonight

Comments (0) |

Local book lovers want to open a new chapter in the story of the Atascadero-Martin Polin Regional Library. “Everybody agrees that the library needs to be bigger,” said Grenda Ernst, president of the nonprofit Friends of the Atascadero Martin Polin Library. “As time has gone by, library usage has increased tremendously, so the need is bigger than ever.”

Supporters have a bold plan for the single-story, stucco building at 6850 Morro Road. The $6 million expansion project would double the library’s size, boost space for public meetings, youth programs and a computer lab, and add several parking spaces.

Since 1988, Friends of the Atascadero Library has raised about $800,000 —mostly through used book sales — toward design, construction and other costs. The city has raised an additional $200,000 and county supervisors have committed $3 million in matching funds.

Now the nonprofit organization is turning to the community for support — starting with a sold-out fundraiser tonight at Hush-Harbor Artisan Bakery in Atascadero. “We’re reaching out to everybody,” said Ernst, whose mother, longtime Friends of the Atascadero Library president Sarah Gronstrand, led the campaign to build the current library. “Every new week, I hear of people wanting to help.”

Too small from the start

Plans for Atascadero’s current library building date to 1983, when city officials took over the space that was used by the library at the city Administration Building on Palma Avenue. San Luis Obispo attorney Martin Polin donated a 30,000-square-foot lot between Morro Road and Atascadero Avenue as a new library site. The newly formed Friends of the Atascadero Library launched a fundraising campaign. Five years later, the new library’s doors opened for the first time. The 7,500-square-foot building cost just over $1 million to build.

County Library Director Brian Reynolds said calls to expand the library began almost immediately. “Generally speaking, people plan for a building to be adequate for 20 years,” he explained. “When Atascadero was built, it was too small for the community at the time. That also meant it was too small for that window of growth.”

Over the years, Atascadero has seen its population grow to nearly 29,000. The library also serves people throughout the North County, from Creston to California Valley.

Branch Manager Deborah Schlanser said the library’s roughly 25,000 registered borrowers check out 25,000 to 30,000 items a month. When it opened, the Atascadero library housed 40,000 volumes. Now the catalog boasts about 75,000 books, magazines, DVDs and audio recordings; titles are being added constantly.

“We’ve had to weed massively because we’re out of space,” Schlanser said. The Atascadero library also lacks enough space for public meetings and children’s story times, held at the Martin Polin Community Room, Schlanser said. As many as 200 people show up for meetings, she said, yet the room holds just 44. So many patrons use the facility’s four computers to do homework and check e-mail that they’re limited to a half hour a day, Schlanser said. And patrons are forced to fight for 24 parking spaces. In addition, Schlanser sees a strong need for a teen area complete with couches and beanbag chairs.

“We’re in a town that doesn’t have a movie theater, doesn’t have a bowling alley,” she said. “Kids really don’t have room to hang out.”

Expansion eyed

The solution, Ernst and her fellow library supporters said, is a bigger, better library.

Although organizers once eyed Colony Square as a possible location, Reynolds said, the library can’t move from its current location. If it does so, Polin’s will requires the city to give the land to Stanford University. Instead, supporters propose expanding the existing library building or adding a structure. Last October, Friends of the Atascadero Martin Polin Library and county supervisors commissioned a $50,000 study into site constraints. Omni Design Group Inc. of San Luis Obispo released its findings earlier this year.

Omni found “no significant impediments to site development” and recommended demolishing two small buildings nearby on county-owned land. That would clear the way for expansion, doubling the library’s size to 15,000 square feet or more and creating a total of 46 parking spaces. The expansion steering committee, which includes officials from the county General Services Agency, plans to interview architects in August. The design process should start sometime this fall.

In the meantime, Friends of the Atascadero Library needs to raise $2 million locally in the next two years — a deadline set by the Board of Supervisors. In addition to tonight’s fundraiser, the group is hosting a special performance of the play “Humble Boy” on Sept. 18. On Oct. 24, the group presents “The ART of CHAIR-ity,” a gala and auction at The Red Tree Gallery in Atascadero. Local artists will paint chairs with literary themes. Friends of the Atascadero Library plans to seek government grants while reaching out to churches, social groups and businesses.

“We’re very aware that we’re launching this campaign … at a time that’s so financially difficult,” Ernst said. At the same time, Reynolds said, the slumping economy means an even greater demand for library services.

In Atascadero, more and more people are using library computers to file for unemployment benefits, update résumés and search for jobs, Schlanser said.

“In one sense, this hard time we’re in is the best publicity we could ask for,” Reynolds said.