Why Sebastopol Needs A New Library
The Sebastopol Regional Library is heavily used, over-crowded, and could offer improved services to our community with more spacious accommodations, more books, increased flexibility of use, more parking, and better arrangement of library collections, services, and workspaces for both library users and staff.
Our library was planned 40 years ago. Sebastopol looked a lot different in 1974. The population was 4,300. The library now serves 41,978, including the West County footprint stretching out to Bodega Bay. SPACE: The library currently offers .41 square feet per capita. The industry average, however, is almost double that, at .8. And we can only assume that Sebastopol and West County population will increase. 
BOOKS: The Sebastopol
Regional Library is too small to house a collection that matches its service
area. The current library houses 59,000 books, which is 44% smaller than the
average for our population. Annual circulation for the library surpasses
400,000 items, with nearly 100,000 of those items circulated are borrowed from
other locations. If we could house more books on our own shelves, we could decrease
wait times for books, minimize staff time, and reduce our environmental
footprint.
TECHNOLOGY: Today’s libraries are not simply repositories of books. Modern libraries provide a full range of audio, visual, online, and digital resources; reliable Wifi; wireless printing; access to sophisticated research tools and services; and even 3-D printing. Currently, our limited space only allows for 14 computers, with high demand for their use. The library provides an average of 952 hours per month of active wireless access, but only has three laptop-friendly tables. Furthermore, the present building was not designed to accommodate our large, modern consumption of electricity, nor does it efficiently use energy. A new library could satisfy our evolving technological demands, designed with flexibility to anticipate future needs.
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Lighting the Way: Building a Library that Suits SebastopolWe, at LANTERN, believe that a great library is a source of light, guiding a community toward new heights of creativity, knowledge, and achievement.
Sebastopol is a town that takes great pride in nurturing the minds, hearts, and souls of our community members, children and adult alike. We are the home of many Sonoma County treasures, including: The Ceres Project, Cittaslow Sebastopol, Luther Burbank Experimental Farm, renowned schools, Apple Blossom Festival, Gravenstein Apple Fair, Farm Trails, Art Trails/Art at the Source, Shakespeare in the Park, Village Building Convergence, PeaceTown Concert Series, the Sebastopol Grange, and so much more. We need a library that lives up to the excellence of our community, and that can educate, amuse, and enlighten the West County region. |
Now is the time to light the path toward a library that can better serve our modern needs, in a sustainable and flexible way, including: a larger meeting room, study/tutoring rooms, a dedicated children’s area, improved computer use space, more and better quiet spaces for reading and research, more room for books, Wifi capability, energy efficiency, and a bright, beautiful, and welcoming space.
Despite a recent renovation, we need to plan for the future, a future of growth in Sebastopol and West County, a future of ever-evolving technology, and a future of inspired learning for all ages of our community.
Read the full Needs Assessment here.
Despite a recent renovation, we need to plan for the future, a future of growth in Sebastopol and West County, a future of ever-evolving technology, and a future of inspired learning for all ages of our community.
Read the full Needs Assessment here.
