New Library Will Serve Logan Heights Students and Community
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| Mayor Jerry Sanders enjoys students' performance. | ||
December 11
Members of the Logan Heights community packed the Community Room on Friday, December 11 to help open a new, two-story, 25,000 square foot branch library. The new facility replaces a 3,967 square foot facility built in 1927. In a unique joint-use arrangement with the San Diego Unified School District, the library is on the Logan Elementary School grounds and adjacent to Memorial Charter Middle School.
Mayor Jerry Sanders and Council President Ben Hueso joined San Diego Public Library Director Deborah Barrow and Library Commission Chair Katie Sullivan at the grand opening ceremony. Students from Logan Heights Elementary and Memorial Charter Middle School opened the ceremony with a parade of artwork of their favorite books.
Council President Hueso announced a generous endowment gift for the Library from Gracia Molina de Pick. “The newly established Gracia Molina de Pick & Richard Allen Pick Endowment Fund at the San Diego Public Library Foundation will provide a lasting source of revenue to support a wide range of needs at this new library,” Hueso said.
Other private library supporters of the library include Ann and Phil White, CP Kelco, Las Patronas, the La Jolla Debutante Ball Committee, the Logan Heights Friends of the Library and The Samuel & Katherine Weaver French Fund.
The $14.5 million project was made possible by a state grant of $5.35 million, a $3.4 million loan from the Federal Housing and Urban Development, with the remainder being paid for by a grant from the First 5 Commission of San Diego County, the Library System Improvement Fund and developer fees. The San Diego Library Foundation has raised an additional $275,000 in private contributions, with additional gifts pending.
The new library features:
- More than six times the space of the old library.
- An expanded book collection to 73,000 volumes, compared to 40,700.
- More than six times the number of computers, with 66 public computers and two early literacy computers for toddlers.
- 186 dedicated parking spaces.
- A large collection of bilingual books and library materials in a variety of formats.
- Special library access by school faculty and students before open hours.
- School priority for all meeting rooms, labs and seminar rooms.
- A 300-seat community room and a "Centro Cultural," that will showcase student art and bring cultural programming to the community.
A The new Logan Heights Branch is also home to one of four Preschooler's Door to Learning Centers at San Diego Public Library locations. One of four centers at San Diego Public Library locations, this resource promotes school readiness from infancy, allowing children to discover the pleasures of reading and learning.
To read and view media reports on the library’s opening, visit:
