Belmont Library Celebrates 5th Anniversary of Architectural Gem

Anyone who has stepped into the during the past five years knows it has all the features people come to expect in a modern library.

There’s a community room, study rooms, self-checkout stations, an outdoor amphitheater, a teen center, an adult wing with a reading area including a fireplace, a children’s wing with a storytime area, and numerous window walls offering views of heritage oak trees.  

But that hasn’t always been the case.

Prior to the grand opening of the current library building on April 29, 2006, Belmont residents had a very different library and library experience.

Anne Lynch, Senior Library Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator at the Belmont Library, worked in the previous library before it closed its doors on Aug. 8, 2004.

“It was a comfortable building, but it was very small,” said Lynch.

The older library offered so little storage space that during tax season, the library often had to store surplus tax forms in the women’s restroom.

In addition to its small size, Ms. Lynch said patrons were often wary of visiting on summer days because the library, which lacked air conditioning, became extremely hot.

When the current Belmont Library opened its doors to the public five years ago, it ushered in a new era of the library serving the community of Belmont.

“We grew from a 5,000 square feet library,” said Belmont Library manager Kathleen Beasley. “This one is 20,030 square feet.”

Beasley said the library building was built with the idea it could accommodate more than 75,000 items and serve the needs of the community for years to come.

One such improvement was being able to offer more computers for library patrons. Currently, the library offers more than 70 computers for public use whereas its predecessor had room for only nine.

The previous library did not have quiet study rooms available for students, a homework center, and the ability to offer as many programs to the public.

The space limitations of the older building also meant that it was rare to have multiple programs happening at the same time.

Today, the Belmont Library celebrates its fifth anniversary of serving the community in a building designed by San Francisco architectural firm Field Paoli.

The activities scheduled for today show just how much a center of community activity the library is now.

In the morning, the Belmont Library offered a storytime for younger children.

From 3 to 4:30 p.m. there was an afternoon storytime scheduled for school-age children, which included crafts and treats.

At 3:30 p.m. there was a duct tape activity scheduled for teens.

Starting at 6 p.m. tonight, the Belmont Library will offer a birthday reception with music provided by the Carlmont Jazz Band. There will be a summer reading program featuring recommendations via various e-readers.

The evening will also feature several showings of a video documentary offering a look into the effort it took the community to have a modern library building built.

Lynch said Belmont residents are to be commended for putting forth the effort to have such a nice facility built.

“We can offer the community so much more in a building like this,” said Lynch.