Since the Bonney Lake library was built in 1982, the population of the city has tripled, but the size of the building has not.
Add in all of the new demands of library users, such as Internet terminals, increased space for teens, self-checkouts and the addition of music and movie collection and things are starting to get packed in pretty tight.
“It’s squish, squish, squish, squish,” said managing Librarian Lynne Zeiher, describing how the librarians have to work with the space they have.
“Everything is really packed in here,” she said. “It’s just not big enough.”
Zeiher said the library and staff have not been able to keep up with the explosion of growth the plateau has experienced in the past decade-plus.
“With the growth that’s gone on up here, this branch would be in the top three as far as size in the library system,” she said.
In 2009, the Bonney Lake library served 137,000 visitors and checked out 482,882 items.
But at only 6,400 square feet, the building is among the smallest, which is why a new facilities master plan summary from the Pierce County Library System includes Bonney Lake among the branches
“It’s a very, very busy library,” Pierce County Library Executive Director Neel Parikh told the city council at a its June 1 workshop. “It should be 38,000 – 44,000 (square feet). That is a substantially different library.”
According to recommendations from the study, the Bonney Lake branch needs seven times its current seating capacity, six times the number of computers and a dedicated meeting room.
“Your meeting room and Graham’s are worst off for the size,” Parikh said.
Zeiher agreed, calling the meeting room “really bad” and saying a recent magic show event the library hosted had to be moved outside to accommodate a crowd that simply did not fit in the building.
According to the study, the estimated cost, including land of building a new library would be about $38.8 million. The library district is looking to partner with the city to make the library part of the planned civic campus downtown that will also include a new city hall. Parikh said the library would also be “delighted” to partner with a business to share the cost of a building.
A new library in Bonney Lake could be part of a large, district-wide bond issue being considered by the Pierce County Library, which also must make improvements and/or expansions at more than a dozen branches.
The library district is presently considering a bond measure, but nothing has been decided. Should a bond measure pass, it is estimated construction of a new library would take three years from that point.
