A library for all: when the community college and town of Irving, Texas, decided to build a dual-use library, it took a lot of planning and money, but ultimately both students and taxpayers won - profile in change

Matrix: The Magazine for Leaders in Education, Nov-Dec, 2001 by Amy D'Orio

Students at North Lake Community College in Irving, Texas, have waited a long time for a new library.

Talks of one started in 1991. College enrollment the last three years has averaged a 12 percent increase for a total of 12,000 students per semester, still using the original 15,500-square-foot library built when the campus opened in 1977.

Starting in January, however, students will have a new 60,000-square-foot library, almost four times the old one's size. It has more room than it needs for scholarly works, so Danielle Steele and Tom Clancy have been invited. So has Good Housekeeping, probably more than one volume on how to make" good chili, The Hardy Boys, and good ol' Dr. Seuss. The library even h special space for a warm and snuggly storytime for youngsters.

Sound like a public library as well as an academic one?

Correct.

North Lake and the city of Irving, just 15 miles or so from downtown Dallas, have spent much of the last decade planning and building a hybrid library, one that is both an academic institution and a full-service public library for citizens of Irving.

The town and college estimate some $4 million has been saved for taxpayers by building it jointly, avoiding the redundant costs of both building a library in generally the same area of the city, according to college officials. Working together, they both have gotten a larger library with better resources than they could afford alone.

The city was in need of a centrally located branch to join its four branches and main library. The community college, which is located in central Irving, was its library would soon be too small for rising enrollment, says Robert Brown, vice chancellor of business affairs for the Dallas County Community College District.

In Texas, local community college districts have taxing power and must pay for new buildings through local means. The individual districts also pay for most of their operating budgets, with the state contributing a little less than half. Fiscal efficiency and creativity is a must, Brown says.

The college had planned to build a 30,000 square-foot library at an estimated $3.4 million, but Lyle Vance, the new library's manager, said the school quickly realized it needed more space and the estimate grew.

The city of Irving was probably facing a $4 million to $5 million bill to build an approximately 20,000-square foot space, says Nancy Smith, the city's director of libraries. The combination of the two projects resulted in one $8.1 million project that Irving and college officials believe is unusual in this country. Vance says he knows of one other library like North Lake in San Jose, Calif., a joint project between the city and the local state university. Smith says intermittently over the years such libraries have cropped up, but typically they are done within secondary schools, and the jury is largely out on its success among library professionals.

But the benefits of this project--savings, community involvement, better services for all--are significant and it signals the future for administrators, according to at least two college groups. The North Lake library project was recognized and presented to the National Association of College and University Business Officers at its New York conference in July. The project has also recently earned an exemplary practice award from the Community College Business Officers.

Brown says Irving officials were easy to work with but the issues were complicated. Smith agrees, saying the two groups must still work out % mountain of operational issues." The overall agreement--a six-year contract with three, six-year renewable options for future contracts--took nearly a decade to work out.

The terms start with the college paying entirely for the $8.1 million capital costs through savings and the issuing of voter-approved revenue bonds. Brown says the college wanted to own the building and ensure it is placed on its own campus. The city is kicking in $1 million for books and other materials and is paying $900,000 toward furniture fixtures and equipment. It will, of course, also maintain an operating budget for the new library as will the college, collectively totaling $1.7 million.

The city will largely have control of library operations, eventually having most if not all the staff under its employment. The city got to appoint the overall manager for the new library (Vance, a veteran city library professional intrigued by the project), but the manager reports to both deans at the college and the assistant library services for the city. Vance also works with two separate budgets for the library, the only part of this venture that seems to have been left out of the mixing bowl.

As part of its operating expenses, the city will pay a monthly facility use fee of $18,500 that will lower the college's own operating costs, which is budgeted at $700,000, according to Brown. Out of a total $26 million bud get, currently the school spends $430,000 on its library. The current library budget, however, does not include maintenance, utilities, security and automation expenses while the new library's operating budget does include those items. The utilities, security and maintenance and automation expenses have increased by more than $200,000, Vance notes.