Newport Beach’s Library Foundation gets new name, in time for facility’s big opening
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The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation, fresh off the heels of a major rebranding campaign, has devised a new motto, logo and name to serve as guideposts as the library system expands its programming and facilities.
Welcome to the Library Foundation of Newport Beach, whose new brand statement is “Supporting Discovery and Connection … Beyond Books.”
The city’s initials are visually represented by a clever stacking of three red books next to the new foundation-forward moniker. Since the non-profit’s formation in 1989, the foundation has assisted in funding everything from buildings and self-checkout machines to lecture speakers and library furniture.
“This stands out, this echoes — it pops,” Jerold Kappel, the nonprofit’s chief executive, said Thursday of the new branding effort, approved by the foundation’s board, which took effect at the start of the year. “It’s very clear who we are and what we do.”
Foundation members began considering a message refresh about two years ago and began in earnest last July, securing help from the firms Assume Nothing Studios and Brand Runner Consulting to conduct market research and compile different options.
Kappel said the erstwhile brand was a bit basic and didn’t tell the dynamic story of the organization. In addition to supporting the city’s four library sites, the group funds and hosts events and programs, including the Library Live literary series, Spotlight on Science, book discussions and Medicine in Our Backyard, a collaboration with UCI Health.
“People come to the library not only to learn but now to interact,” he said. “The library is the only nonpartisan, nonsectarian free space left in most cities in the United States. It’s not just a quiet archive, it’s a civic monument to learning.”
The new branding also coincides with the imminent completion of the $23.4-million Witte Hall, a 9,815-square-foot, 300-seat space. It’s a project that’s been in the works for years and for which the Library Foundation has raised roughly $11,743,000 so far.
Board members are hopeful they may be able to host a grand opening sometime in July, to mark the 32nd anniversary of the reopening of the city’s Central Library, renovated in 1994, according to Kappel.
By then, all the elements of the new brand, which will appear on business cards, banners and the foundation’s website, should be fully implemented.
