August 30, 2000

Allen Foundation gives $20M for Seattle libraries

Each time the Seattle Library Foundation receives a multi-million dollar gift, they decide to up the ante.

Gayle Richardson, children's librarian at North East Library, read to a group of children Tuesday following the announcement of a $20 million gift to Campaign for Seattle Public Libraries. Photo by Sam Bennett

"Raising the bar is a whole lot of fun," said Gil Anderson, Seattle Public Library board member. "We have $64 million today, now let's go get the $11 million."

Anderson had reason to raise the bar on Tuesday, with the announcement of a $20 million grant from the Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation to the Campaign for Seattle Public Libraries. Of the $20 million, $15 million will be used each year to buy new books and materials system-wide, and $5 million will be applied toward building the children's center in the new central library downtown.

The new downtown library, designed by Rem Koolhaas, will cost $159 million and be finished in 2003.

Announcing the $20 million gift in the central library's Lee Auditorium, foundation manager Sue Coliton drew laughter when she referred to Paul Allen's support for "innovative architecture" -- in light of Allen bankrolling Frank Gehry's Experience Music Project at Seattle Center. "We're excited by Rem Koolhaas's vision for the new central library," she said, quoting a prepared statement by Jody Allen Patton.

An equally excited Anderson said the infusion of Allen's money into the Campaign for Seattle's Public Libraries would mean an upwardly revised goal of $75 million. Of that amount, $35 million would be used for capital improvements including construction, and $32 million would go toward book, video and CD collections. In the first year of Allen's endowment, city librarian Deborah Jacobs said the money would buy 37,000 books, videos and CDs for collections system-wide.

The approximately 13,000-square-foot children's center, which will receive $5 million from Allen's gift, will be on the fourth floor of the new library. "Koolhaas envisions the children's center as a magical space full of interesting shapes and a mix of materials designed to delight children and stimulate their curiosity," said library spokesperson Andra Addison.

The total cost of the library's 22-branch new construction and renovation project is $236.5 million. Seattle voters in 1998 passed the $196.4 million Libraries for All bond measure for the 109-year-old system, with the rest coming from private sources. Capital projects for the system will be completed by 2007.

Jacobs said Seattle Library has the largest collections endowment -- more than $20 million -- of any library system she knew of in the country. The endowment's goal is $31 million.

The Allen Foundation gift Tuesday is the second $20 million gift to the Library Foundation in recent years, equalled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gift in November 1998. A majority of the Gates's gift was earmarked for capital projects in neighborhood libraries.

Council member Nick Licata noted that 80 percent of Seattle residents have library cards. "The library is one of the most popular, appreciated resources in Seattle," he said. "We believe the library is literally at the core of the city's values."

Jacobs said the library fund-raising campaign and the Libraries For All initiative is far from finished. "Our vision is big, our needs are great and we still have a lot to do," she said.