Library Adds Volumes to Life in Orange

The city of Orange reopened its main library in Old Towne on Saturday after renovations that took more than a year and cost $1.7 million--work undertaken despite uncertainty over the building’s future.

“The accolades are already pouring in,” said Mayor Joanne Coontz, “but we’re not resting on our laurels because we’re working on a sequel.”

Coontz and other officials said the renovations, funded by the city, buy time as Orange debates how to best serve residents hungry for a quiet place to read and research.

The city is also looking for ways to compete with the public’s growing appetite for mega-bookstores where customers read, browse, buy and snack. Less stodgy libraries, with a myriad of entertainment options, they said, are the future.

Whether to expand the facility to adjacent city-owned property or build one three times as large in another spot should be decided soon--although city officials couldn’t say when. Funding will be a deciding factor.

Gary Wann, city director of community and library services, said expansion costs are not known, but a new, state-of-the-art facility could cost $20 million.

“A number of options will be considered,” he said, including demolishing the newly renovated site. “We just don’t know.”

Although the facility’s long-range future is unclear, the City Council unanimously voted in December 1997 to begin renovation based on a consultant’s report calling the current library “obsolete,” “nonfunctional” and too small for a city population that had mushroomed about 400% since the site’s 1961 construction. The library--at 17,800 square feet--is the smallest main library in Orange County.

“We needed this now,” Coontz said. “We all thought it was better to go ahead.”

The grand reopening unveiled cosmetic changes such as a vastly improved children’s area, enhanced lighting, new shelves and colorful new carpet, as well as major structural changes to meet seismic and handicap-access requirements.

“We had a dead building,” Wann said, “and we brought it back to life.”

City officials were especially proud of the library’s new information technology center, which now provides 10 computers with Internet access with plans for up to 10 more.

The library had only one terminal for patron use before.

“We’re finally coming into the 20th century,” joked Councilman Michael Alvarez. “We’re just trying to play catch-up.”

Even with the renovations, the library has a long way to go before rivaling cutting-edge facilities such as those in Huntington Beach or Newport Beach, Alvarez said.

“We didn’t bite the bullet,” he said. “We took some baby steps in renovating what we had.”

Hundreds were on hand to check out the fresh digs. Kids--whose reading choices ranged from Jane Eyre to dinosaurs--agreed the changes were “cool.”

Ricky Chavez, 7, immediately holed up in the library’s new 10-foot, tepee-like structure filled with fiction and fairy tales and comfy beanbag chairs.

Within minutes, he had his nose in three books--all at once.

Ashley Ecker, 10, beelined to a computer terminal, logged on and started searching for games.

“I don’t have a computer at home,” she said. “I’ll come here a lot. I think the new library is really cool. It’s better than the old one.”

Indeed, library enthusiasts of all ages stood 15-deep to check out books, videos, even CD-ROMs.

Destiny McKnight, 26, said she planned to use the library’s computers to study while her son, Christian, 6, played in the KidZone nearby.

“I can’t get any work done at home,” she said. “This is going to be great.”

Alvarez said previous city politicians undervalued and financially neglected the library for years.

The cost of renovation, he said, was justified.

According to the 1997 consultant’s report, funding for the facility dropped approximately 40% from 1990 levels due to the poor economy.

The report said Orange was spending about half the statewide average per person for library services.

Alvarez said he hoped the city would decide to rebuild the library elsewhere--perhaps on the city’s growing east side.

He said the renovated library could then be used as a branch.

Coontz appeared to favor expanding the library at its current location but said that the council would need to “look at the whole picture. . . . A good library is essential to a city. It’s a hallmark of what kind of city you have.”

But for now, the newly renovated library, she said, is more inviting and “just a friendlier place.”

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Library Renovation

The renovated Orange Public Library Main Branch includes a 12-foot storytelling tower and computer-equipped “cyberzones” for adults and children. A look at the library’s new $1.6 million interior:

MAIN ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES

1. StoryZone: Domed storytelling area beneath 12-foot tower

2. The Wave: Undulating wave of aqua metal mesh (two 25-foot segments, 10 feet wide)

3. Big Orange: Ten-foot diameter orange ball with green “stem” hangs from ceiling

INFORMATION

Location: 101 N. Center St.

Telephone: (714) 288-2400

Hours:Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; closed Friday; Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; closed Sunday

Online card catalog: https://library.cityoforange.org.

Web page: Library information and special events listed on City of Orange web site, https://www.cityoforange.org.

Source: Orange Public Library; Graphics reporting by JANICE JONES DODDS / Los Angeles Times