ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608120056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
When a Texas consultant presented preliminary results of his study of Roanoke's library system last week, he did not mince words.
He used words not often associated with an institution as benign as the public library - "dysfunctional," "lousy," "bland."
But Dick Waters said anything less would have been a disservice. Waters, a consultant with Providence Associates, based in Denton, was hired to conduct a thorough analysis of the city's public library system. The system includes the Main Library in downtown Roanoke and five branch libraries - Gainsboro, Melrose and Williamson Road in Northwest; Jackson Park in Southeast; and Raleigh Court in Southwest.
After two months of examination, Waters recommended that the city build a new main library in the downtown area twice as big as the existing Main Library on South Jefferson Street, costing an estimated $24 million. Some branch libraries, including that in the Historic Gainsboro district, would have to close.
"We recommend what is right for a particular area. Sometimes that includes closing libraries, sometimes building more," Waters said. "Roanoke has more buildings than it needs."
The president of the Roanoke City Public Library Board, however, said it would be premature to even think about closing libraries.
"Nobody wants to close libraries," said Frank Eastburn. "It's a difficult call."
Waters' study showed use of three branch libraries is expected to decline in the next 20 years: Gainsboro is expected to drop 20 percent; Jackson Park, 8 percent; and Melrose, 10 percent.
The recommendation to close branch libraries was particularly jarring to people who live in or have ties to the Gainsboro area, which has had more than its share of neighborhood upheaval.
"Right now it would be pretty significant, with the loss of the old First Baptist Church and the old YMCA," said George Heller, a Gainsboro resident and one-time leader of the Historic Gainsboro Preservation District Inc. The church, heavily damaged by fire a year ago, was razed last month. The old YMCA building at Gainsboro Road and Patton Avenue was torn down to make way for a four-lane road through the neighborhood.
Closing the library "would be very difficult for people to understand," Heller said. "To some, it would hurt. It's really the last building of old Gainsboro still standing."
But the recommendation was just that - a recommendation, something for the city to consider - Waters said. He offered five options, not limited to building new and closing the old. Three of the five options do include building a new main library and closing some branches.
Options also include doing nothing at all.
But doing nothing would mean a stagnant and underutilized library system, left behind in the planned growth and development of Roanoke and the Roanoke Valley, Waters said.
Should the city keep the library system as is, "service would decline, buildings would, in particular the Main Library, become very crowded, and ultimately some services would have to be suspended," Waters said. "Roanoke would lose any opportunity to be the principal library in the valley. It could be quite harmful to the city of Roanoke, especially the downtown area."
Waters' suggested options include:
* Doing nothing.
* Retaining all present libraries and making repairs recommended by Hill Studio and Lawrence Perry & Associates - two Roanoke firms that assisted Waters in his study. Repairs include heating system upgrades, handicapped-accessible bathrooms and expansion where possible.
* Building a new Main Library and discontinuing the existing Main Library as the central library facility for Roanoke. In this option, all existing branch libraries would be retained and repaired.
* Building a new Main Library and retaining the Williamson Road and Raleigh Court branches. The Gainsboro, Melrose and Jackson Park branches would be discontinued and their buildings put to other public uses.
* Building a new Main Library, retaining the Melrose branch and converting the other four branches to other public uses. Waters suggested that in this option, Roanoke take on the responsibility of being the central or main library for the Roanoke Valley, with the bulk of branch library services provided by other public library systems in the valley.
Waters said the Main Library, built in the 1950s, is not a functional facility. The library addition, built in the 1980s, was poorly designed from a functional standpoint, and the building's technological capabilities are weak, he said. Further expansion would only compound the problem.
Waters' projected $24 million cost to build a new library does not include site acquisition and parking. Waters said he and consultants from Hill Studio and Lawrence Perry had "eyeballed, at least in a very preliminary way, what would appear to be enough vacant space that might be worthy possibilities."
Sites included vacant lots near the Norfolk Southern office building at Franklin and Williamson roads and near the First Street bridge, Waters said.
Waters' study compared Roanoke's library system with those of six cities with similar-size service areas: Berkeley, Calif.; Clearwater, Fla.; Cambridge, Mass.; Stamford, Conn.; Vigo County, Ind.; and Wayne County, Ohio. Of the seven, Roanoke ranked last in staffing, consistent use and amount of money spent on materials.
Eastburn said Waters' study confirmed what the board had long known - that the city's library system was deficient. The board will receive a presentation of the study's final report next month.
"The bottom line is Roanoke is an All-America City," Eastburn said. "It needs a library to match that designation, and we don't have it."
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY Staff. 1. Carla Pullen, manager of theby CNBGainsboro branch library, checks some books out to longtime patron
Theresa Holmes, an avid reader who walks to the library two or three
times a week. 2. Construction around the Gainsboro Library has
hampered some patrons' access to the facility.