The Holgate Library in Southeast Portland’s Foster-Powell neighborhood will reopen Saturday, July 13, in an entirely new building, triple the size of the former library.
The branch closed in December 2022 for demolition and new construction.
“Holgate is the first new, permanent library to open in Multnomah County in more than a decade and the most energy efficient library ever built in Multnomah County,” the library announced.
The new library is 21,000 square feet filled with books, meeting rooms, a children’s play area and an abundance of spaces to sit and read, do homework or use a computer.
Through the design process, “there was an emphasis put on people; having spaces for people to gather, to sit,” construction project manager Elise Hendrickson said. “The community really wanted to have more places to sit.”
But the shelves are still packed with books.
“There’s still a really robust collection. We’re never going to get rid of the books,” said Liz Sauer, communications manager for the library’s capital bond projects.
In the year before the Holgate Library closed for construction, more than 480,000 library materials were checked out or renewed. The branch had 74,479 visits in a year, or more than 200 per day, Sauer said.
The ground floor features a large community room, which can be divided into two smaller rooms or used for one larger gathering. The community room can be reserved by outside groups and used for library events.
The children’s room includes the standard stacks of books as well as a play area designed by Burgeon Group, a design firm focused on interactive learning spaces in public libraries.
The $27 million building designed by Bora Architecture uses mass timber construction and has solar panels on the roof.
Shelves on the second floor of the library are stacked with books for adults, including books in languages other than English, like Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Chinese.
The second floor of the library also includes more seating areas, a conference room, small pod rooms for library patrons taking calls or meetings, a teen room, and a community room ready to handle messy art projects. Staff-only space is also included in both floors.
The group Your Street Your Voice worked with teens to decide what they wanted to see in the teen space.
The teen room has audio and visual recording equipment and computers with creative software.
The equipment is for teens who “want to make their own TikTok videos or do any sort of podcasting, and then with the technology that will be on the computers, they can edit it,” Sauer said.
The library has amenities like the Rockwood Library Makerspace, but on a smaller scale. The Rockwood Library offers 3D printers, sewing machines, craft cutters, art supplies, laser cutting and computers with creative software. Some of those resources will also be available at Holgate.
Grand opening
The library will celebrate the opening with three days of events, from Saturday, July 13, through Monday, July 15, featuring live performances from musicians and dance troupes, dance lessons and arts and crafts.
After a ribbon-cutting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, library visitors can follow the White Lotus Dragon and Lion Dance Team through the building to bring good luck to the new library. A full schedule is available online .
The Holgate Library is located at 7905 S.E. Holgate Blvd.
Most Popular
Comments / 0