FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information,Lafayette, California November 30, 2004
The Lafayette Library & Learning Center, future home of a “first-ever” lifelong learning consortium, has been awarded an $11.9 million grant by the California Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Board.
The award, one of 12 made Monday after a day-long hearing in Sacramento, will contribute funds to the public portion of the private-public financing of the new library. Lafayette already has a private campaign to raise the additional $11 million needed ($9 for construction, $2 for endowment) in early stages of development.
Monday’s hearing capped an 11- month long process that saw 72 libraries, with $587 million in projects in California, compete for $80 million in available funds. Lafayette, one of the 20 libraries rated as “outstanding,” was also competing with two other outstanding projects in Contra Costa County.
Comments Steve Falk, City Manager, “Every single one of these 72 projects was important, but the Lafayette Library & Learning Center was the only project with national implications.” The new Lafayette Library & Learning Center will be home to the Glenn Seaborg Consortium, a visionary collaboration among 12 high-profile arts, education, and cultural organizations. Members of the consortium, including the Oakland Museum of California’s Executive Director, Dennis Power and Oakland Zoo Director, Joel Parrott wrote letters of support. Gloria Duffy, President and CEO of the Commonwealth Club, another consortium member and one of the project’s strongest supporters, joined the Lafayette delegation in its presentation trip to Sacramento.
Two volunteer Lafayette leaders spoke on behalf of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center, former Chief Deputy Superintendent of the California Department of Education, and chair of the board of Lafayette Arts and Sciences Foundation, Richard Whitmore, and Roger Falcone, professor of physics at UC Berkeley, and member of the Lafayette School Board. They were joined by Elizabeth Stage, executive director, Lawrence Hall of Science, one of the founding members of the Glenn Seaborg Learning Consortium. A delegation of other volunteers, including the leadership of Lafayette’s long-time library boosters, Friends of Lafayette Library, provided additional support.
During Falcone’s presentation, he shared some of the national press the learning consortium concept has received, from AMERICAN LIBRARIES (“It reimagines the library as a place for lifetime learning.”) and SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, the premier journal for librarians in educational institutions (“Library planners are hailing the Lafayette Library and Learning Center as the first of its kind and expect it to serve as a national model.”).
As Elizabeth Stage observed to the Bond Board, “By selecting this proposal you can give the most innovative state in the union, California, the opportunity to change public libraries in this country.”
Anne Grodin, former mayor of Lafayette, and chair of the private campaign for the Lafayette Library & Learning Center, says, “This is a wonderful day for Lafayette, but even more important, it’s a wonderful day for libraries. Our private campaign, which will raise the critical funds not covered by public moneys, is just getting underway. Early response has been so positive, because visionary supporters – individuals, families, foundations, businesses – see the same excitement that captured the bond board’s attention.”
Groundbreaking is scheduled for Summer 2005, and the new Lafayette Library & Learning Center will open its doors in Winter 2008.
Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd, Suite 214, Lafayette, CA 94549-1472
www.lafayettelib.com