Voters killed big Boise library in ’19. After 3 years, see what the city is doing now
Three years ago, a plan to spend at least $85 million on a main library design by famous architect Moshe Safdie ran aground before Boise voters.
The fight over the future of the library figured large in Boise’s last mayoral election, and the longtime former mayor, David Bieter, thought it sank his reelection bid. Since then, the city has kept mostly quiet on its future plans for the library.
Until now.
This year, the library’s leaders are again embarking on long-term planning efforts in one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities.
In July, the Boise library launched a series of “listening sessions” with residents and an online survey, asking Boiseans what library services mean the most to them, and what role they think the library has in the community.
“Libraries are changing around the country and around the world,” Heidi Lewis, the main library manager, told the Idaho Statesman. “We really wanted to make sure that we were checking in with the community to see, are we still meeting their needs? What needs do they have that we maybe aren’t helping with or addressing yet?”
Boise’s library has undergone an expansion over the past two decades, and leadership changes and pointed public feedback in recent years have prompted the library to begin a new public effort to guide its future.
But an examination of what facility changes may be in store for the main building, which dates to the 1940s, won’t happen until later.
‘So many changes in Boise’
When the new millennium began, Idaho’s capital had one library: the main branch on Capitol Boulevard. A facilities plan that year forecasted the city’s growth over 20 years and recommended a number of solutions, including potentially building neighborhood branches across the city and an “all-new Main Library” at the existing site.
The city followed through on some of those branch proposals in the intervening years, adding three new branches in 2008 and 2009 and a fourth in 2015.
A five-year strategic plan dating from 2016 laid out other goals, including incorporating new technologies in library offerings and increasing community participation.
In 2019, the library’s director, Kevin Booe, retired, shortly after a sex-discrimination complaint was filed with the city that implicated him. The Idaho Human Rights Commission later found probable cause that the employee was sexually harassed, and that Booe himself had directly influenced the library’s efforts to discipline the employee.
This month, the city announced it had reached a settlement with the former employee.
COVID-19 shut down most library services for a time, which along with coincident challenges like housing affordability upended how many people in Boise live, said Jessica Dorr, the library’s new director, who came on board in 2021.
“There’s been so many changes in Boise,” she said. “It’s really important that we take some time right now to have a discussion about how the library can help everybody in this community live a rich, healthy and productive life.”
How has the library changed?
The pandemic caused major disruption to the library’s services. In response, leaders expanded the availability of digital materials and expanded curbside pickup.
Checkout of physical materials is still down about 13% from pre-pandemic levels, but rates are expected to increase as more of the library’s in-person programming is brought back, according to the city’s budget book.
The library’s circulation of youth materials has been increasing each month, Dorr said. At the same time, e-books have become more popular in recent years, and other amenities libraries provide – like free WiFi – may be becoming more important.
The library has worked to expand the reach of its Wi-Fi further into parking lots, Lewis said, noting that many use internet at libraries to look for jobs, find resources and get in contact with friends.
“It is a very interesting time for libraries right now,” Dorr said. “As users are changing how they’re using libraries and what they want, how much do they want physical, how much do they want digital, what kind of programming they want and where?”
The number of people visiting libraries is still below prepandemic levels, but it is “growing every week,” Lewis said.
So far this year, the library has circulated over 2 million materials, which is up from 1.7 million this time last year, according to library statistics. The branches have seen about 488,000 patrons, up from 275,000 this time last year.
On Tuesday, Oct. 11, the Boise City Council approved the $290,000 purchase of a machine that will automatically sort returned library materials.
What is the planning process looking to uncover?
Through its public-input process, library leaders say they seek to understand what services the public wants a library to provide.
Library staff members have already interviewed some of its education partners, like Learning Lab and Step Ahead, as well as leaders at the literary nonprofit the Cabin; the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights; the mayor and some City Council members; and staff members in other city departments, Lewis said. The library plans to interview other local nonprofits as well.
A survey, which was open from mid-July until the end of August, garnered over 2,300 responses in English and 18 in Spanish, according to a report to the board.
“We really want to make sure that the community knows that we’re listening right now for any of the steps we’re taking and moving forward with our programs and services,” Lewis said.
Though she was not yet with the library when voters rejected the major main library project, Dorr said she has still received feedback about the previous plan.
“What I’ve heard since I joined is a real eagerness from the community to be involved in discussions about the impacts that the libraries can have on this community, and a real interest in providing feedback and having an ongoing conversation with the library about how we can best meet community needs at all our locations,” she said.
Phil Magnuson, a member of the library’s Board of Trustees, told the Statesman that what the library heard from a segment of city residents was clear.
“There was certainly a significant sector of the community that felt like somehow their voice was not being heard,” he said.
In the 21st century, the needs a library provides for have changed.
“The library is a whole lot more than just shelves of books at this point,” he said.
‘What is needed and where it’s needed’
A local group called Boise Working Together spearheaded the effort to quash the downtown library development three years ago by putting forward a ballot initiative – which passed – requiring library projects that exceed $25 million to go to voters first for approval.
The group’s president, Dave Kangas, told the Statesman he likes that the city is gathering community feedback.
“I think what they’re doing is so very important, and it’s a result of what we did with our initiative,” he said. “I hope through the process, they will identify what is needed and where it’s needed.”
Though he said he doesn’t know what the data will show, he hopes the library will focus more of its energy on expanding branch locations – and the services at those branches – rather than focusing on its main library.
“The role of a library in a community today is just far different than it was when I grew up,” he said, noting that it used to mostly be about doing research and checking out books.
Now, libraries provide internet to people who don’t have it, mental health services, education and other social support. Books are still the “core function,” but other services are needed.
Kangas said it’s important for residents to give the library feedback, especially since the public process with the previous main library plan “didn’t get the right message back to them.”
“They’re asking; are people responding?” he said.
What were some of the survey’s findings?
The community survey that closed in August found that community members strongly agree that libraries should support early childhood education and literacy, enhance the quality of life of residents and provide universal access to information, according to a presentation to the board at a September meeting.
General access to education was also a priority in responses, as were the library’s physical collections, early literacy services and access to technology. One survey question asked, “What prevents you or discourages you from using” the library, with multipleresponse options. About 10% of people said “the hours are not convenient.”
What are the next steps?
The library expects its examination of services to take about a year, Lewis said.
In the coming months, administrators will analyze the information they gather from the public and look for “high-level themes,” which they will then bring back to the public for more discussions about how to move forward, she said.
Residents can look for updates this winter in the library’s e-newsletter, and can write in with questions to BPLStrategic@cityofboise.org.
On Tuesday, Oct. 11, the City Council approved a $75,000 request from the library to help it finish with the first phase of its planning process.
After this review is finished is when a look at the facilities would begin.
“This particular project is not part of that facilities plan,” said Lundergreen, noting that reviewing buildings would be a “complementary” process.
“But obviously, all the feedback that we’re collecting now from the community will impact that process too, and there’ll be more opportunities for the community to weigh in,” Lundergreen said.
Main building built in 1946
In 1973, the city purchased the Salt Lake Hardware building, which was then renovated into the main library, according to the library website. The original structure was built in 1946.
Dorr said the library has received funds from the city to make the building more available to people with disabilities, but that there is “a backlog” on some investments the library needs.
Magnuson compared the main library to an old car. He noted that it has some issues with the heating and cooling system, and that the condition of the roof is being assessed. The plumbing and electrical systems are also reaching end-of-life stages and need maintenance.
With an older car, “At some point, you start doing more and more maintenance, and you start thinking about … what’s the return on this? … When does the maintenance load become kind of overwhelming?” Magnuson said.
“It’s an old car that needs maintenance,” Magnuson said.
This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
