HUNTINGTON BEACH : Firm Donates Again for Library Project

Shell Western E&P; Inc. this week made its third contribution of $4,000 in as many years for the new children’s wing at the Central Library.

The library, in Central Park, is undergoing an $8.5-million, 43,000-square-foot expansion. In addition to the children’s wing, a 320-seat theater, five meeting rooms, a technology center, a bookstore and a gift store will be built.

Work started in March and is expected to be completed in September.

The steel framing is about 98% complete and concrete slabs for the lower and second levels are expected to be poured in two or three weeks, Library Director Ron Hayden said Tuesday.

Library support groups, including the Library Patrons Foundation, the Friends of the Library and the Friends of the Children’s Library raised $700,000. They recently got the go-ahead from the City Council to embark on another fund-raising campaign for $300,000, in which they expect to place private donors’ names on the items and areas that they support.

The library has funding for the building and most of the interior desks and furnishings, Hayden said. Donations now will be sought for books, computers, furniture, theater equipment, meeting room furniture, a saltwater aquarium, art pieces and other items.

If a group, organization, company or individual sponsors an entire room, the room will be named after the sponsor.

The children’s library section of 17,000 square feet will be the largest in California when completed, Hayden said.

About 50,000 youngsters under the age of 13 use the library, but only 4% of library space has been devoted to their use, Hayden said.

Delivering the contribution Monday night, Shell Western’s Community Relations Manager Bill Gibson told Mayor Jim Silva, “There’s nothing more important than the youth of our community and the education of the youth.”

Shell Western operates an oil production unit at Golden West Street and Warner Avenue. It has regularly contributed to youth organizations and the Amigos de Bolsa Chica and Bolsa Chica Conservancy, a spokesman said.