Ground broken for new library

There was no dirt in sight Friday at the groundbreaking for the new Coeur d’Alene Library because spring showers forced the 150 onlookers to cram into the City Council chambers.

The hot, muggy setting where shoulders touched and toes got tromped anytime anyone shifted their weight reminded library leaders of the very reason for the gathering.

“This kind of resembles the state of our current library,” Library Foundation Director Ruth Pratt joked about the tight quarters at the current library on Harrison Avenue, which outgrew its space in 1986, the year it moved there.

By July 2007, Coeur d’Alene will have a new 38,500-square-foot downtown library, nearly triple the size of the current space. The two-story building is just north of City Hall and on the edge of McEuen Field with views of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Pratt said residents have been waiting more than a decade for a new facility that will keep up with Coeur d’Alene’s growing population. The library became a reality when voters in 2005 passed $3 million in bonds for the project. The remainder of the $6.6 million library will come from $1.4 million in community donations, about $1.2 million in private gifts and about $1 million from the sale of the current building.

And the gifts were flowing Friday. The Parker family, which owns Parker Toyota, presented a $330,000 donation on behalf of Shirley Parker, who died in 2002. That makes the family’s total donation $405,000.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe handed over a check for $25,000. Tribal Vice Chairman Francis SiJohn said the tribe gives 5 percent of all its casino revenue to education.

SiJohn’s father, Cliff, blessed the new “lodge of the storyteller” and sang a warrior song. He said the library is a place for children to learn and make better lives for themselves.

The new two-story building will look somewhat like a lodge, incorporating a Northwest look of brick, concrete, wood and lots of windows.

Library Director Bette Ammon anticipates the new downtown location will attract new patrons, perhaps a 25 percent to 50 percent increase. Already the library serves between 300 and 500 people each day.

One of the central features in the building is a community room that can seat as many as 200 people.

The public can use the room for free, and it will become the new Coeur d’Alene City Council chambers. That means any event held in the room can be broadcast on the city’s Cable Channel 19. It will also have the capabilities for film festivals and other multimedia events.

After the ceremony, the crowd moved outside to brave the rain and watch as library leaders pitched a couple shovels of dirt into the air.

“The library is the soul of our community,” Mayor Sandi Bloem said. “Let’s celebrate our soul.”