Tulsa's Central Library renovation was collateral damage when countywide voters rejected the Vision2 initiative last year, as far as the library system's leader is concerned.
"We were a very small part of that initiative," Tulsa City-County Library CEO Gary Shaffer said. "It didn't fail because of the Central Library project."
Library officials had sought $10 million from the $748.8 million proposal to increase the share of public funding for their $47.8 million project to at least 50 percent - a benchmark they hoped would encourage private donors to fund the remainder.
In the days following the Nov. 6 vote, it seemed that the library's plans would have to be scaled back significantly.
Then came rumblings that the city was developing a capital improvements proposal.
"While we were very disappointed, we quickly heard news of that," Shaffer said. "That gave us a lot of hope right then and there."
City officials now propose including $10 million for the library in the $919.9 million proposal they plan to send to voters Nov. 12, hoping again to push the share of public funding for the renovation above 50 percent.
The City Council will vote to finalize the proposal next month.
A 50-50 private-public split is "kind of an important point because donors look for that," Shaffer said. "They look for ... a commitment from the public."
City Councilor G.T. Bynum, who opposed parts of Vision2, said including the funding in this proposal was an easy decision for city officials, given the library's commitment to contribute $15 million of its own savings and the likelihood of private matching funds.
"The library project is in keeping with really one of the themes that we've had, which is looking for projects where we can leverage other funding sources to maximize what the citizens of Tulsa get for their money," he said.
"This is a facility that has been heavily used for half a century now in Tulsa, and this is an opportunity to restore it and make it useful."
The plans haven't changed much. The project would still gut and redesign the interior of the 135,000-square-foot building, replace its mechanical systems, increase energy efficiency and add a 144-space parking garage and an entryway on Fifth Street.
Original plans for an auditorium have been scrapped in favor of a cheaper "education area," where educators could hold classes and students could do homework, Shaffer said.
"It will be like a new building," he said. "It would be a total renovation but keeping the shell of the building."
The two-year project is scheduled to begin by early 2014, with efforts to meet a fundraising goal of $22.8 million to begin later this year. The library will close in September and move its services to a temporary location dubbed the "Librarium" at 11th Street and Denver Avenue.
Although the project would continue in some form without the city's contribution, Shaffer said library officials would have to plan significant cutbacks, much like they did after Vision2's failure.
The parking garage could be among the casualties, he said. More parking, he added, is consistently the top request from downtown library patrons.
"There's talk of 'You need parking structures (downtown),' " he said. "Well, that parking structure could be (cut) away if we didn't get the $10 million."
Shaffer said interest in renovating or replacing downtown libraries has increased nationwide since 2000 and that Tulsa is just now catching up. Oklahoma City and a host of other peer cities have already built new central libraries, he said.
"I don't think people know how many central libraries since 2000 are new," he said. "Library use is at all-time highs, and I think that surprises people that don't use libraries."
Central Library impact
- 411,864 annual visits
- 456,360 items in collection
- 490,504 items circulated annually
- 50,389 annual Wi-Fi log-ins
- 27,870 annual program attendance
Project budget
Total: $47.8 million
Library funds: $15 million
City funding package: $10 million
Donor goal: $22.8 million
Zack Stoycoff 918-581-8486
zack.stoycoff@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: $10M for library fixes at stake
