ALA Midwinter 2011: Cedar Rapids New Public Library Helped Spur FEMA Change
By Michael Kelley Jan 19, 2011Cedar Rapids, IA, is one step closer to its new public library that will replace an 85,000 square foot building wiped out in a 2008 flood, and this renaissance also was the moving force behind the significant revision of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's policy regarding libraries announced at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego.
On January 6, a day before FEMA changed its policy to allow libraries to be eligible for temporary relocation assistance during major disasters, and two days before the news broke in San Diego, the first renderings of the new Cedar Rapids Public Library were approved by the library's Board of Trustees.
"We are building a state-of-the-art library that will serve this community for years to come. This is another step toward that goal," said Library Director Bob Pasicznyuk about the $49 million project (including construction, land acquisition, materials, etc.).
But the project would have been more difficult to realize if the Cedar Rapids management team had not lobbied officials, such as Sen. Tom Harkin, D-IA, in 2009 to convince FEMA to make an exception and recognize that the Cedar Rapids library provided an essential service and was deserving of emergency assistance.
The new FEMA policy, which Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, pushed for, now makes that exception the rule, recognizing that libraries are essential community organizations.
"Ever since (the flood) we've tried to make it clear that libraries are essential to any community," Tamara Glise, who was the interim director of the library at the time of the flood, told the News-Press. "It's not very often you have a chance to influence what the federal government does," she said. "The small part that the staff here played in this was meaningful for us."
The 11-member CRPL management team won LJ's Librarian of the Year award in 2009.
Struggling back
The amount of time it took to convince FEMA to make the exception in 2009, however, did cost the library, Pasicznyuk told LJ. "Since they denied us straight off we had to figure out how to do it on our own. As a result, the temporary library was smaller and done with more economical materials," he said.
However, once the FEMA money did come through it allowed the library to avoid rifling through its operating budget to pay rent for its temporary quarters---about five percent of the library's operating budget.
"The next library shouldn't have to go into months of negotiations over this matter," he said. "They should be able to go right back into getting their service platform back."
As far as the new library goes, Pasicznyuk said they hope to break ground by late summer or early fall.
"It will take about 20 months to complete the project," he said. "It allowed us to take a look at our community and the strategic points that we wanted to hit for the next generation."
For example, while the new library will only be slightly larger than the old one (93,500 square feet), it will have a children's area that is twice the previous size.
The library will also incorporate more mobile rather than fixed computing services, and it may qualify for a LEED platinum certification, Pasicznuk said.
Check back for updates to Midwinter coverage this week.
