Transforming Libraries

In Saint Paul, our libraries operate as neighborhood resilience centers. They provide free gathering spaces for neighborhood meetings, job seekers to access Wi-Fi and resume help, children to discover and learn through play, and community members to work, study, and access services that help them meet their goals.

We know that not all our libraries do this equally. Our libraries are well-loved and well-used in Saint Paul, and some are well-worn. Our vision is to transform three of our libraries, Hamline Midway, Hayden Heights, and Riverview, to bring these locations into the 21st century in their ability to serve their communities. These three libraries have not been renovated in more than 30 years and are part of our vision to transform all libraries in Saint Paul. At all library buildings in Saint Paul, we seek to enhance technology and spaces to play and learn.

Our vision and designs so far are informed by community engagement. We have heard from more than 4,500 people since we started the work in 2018 with community to build a vision for library spaces in Saint Paul.

In 2019, Saint Paul Public Library rewrote its mission, vision, values, and goals through community input. One of the key strategic goals resulting from this process was to invest in spaces that are safe, inviting, affirming, and comfortable for people of all cultures, abilities, and communities. With that goal, we engaged the community to develop a Facilities Direction, a document that presents a vision and recommendations for investments in library facilities, including the Hamline Midway, Hayden Heights, and Riverview libraries.

The Facilities Direction is a vision and recommendations for SPPL facilities. This vision and recommendation built off the Saint Paul Public Library’s 2022 Strategic Direction. The Facilities Direction included recommendations for system-wide technology and play-based learning. It also focused on three libraries: Hamline Midway, Hayden Heights, and Riverview libraries. These libraries have not been renovated in more than 30 years.

The Facilities Direction is not a detailed implementation plan or branch-by-branch facility design.

Facilities Direction timeline

In 2018, the Library engaged with staff and community members to create a new vision, mission, values, and strategic goals for libraries. SPPL engaged nearly 3,000 people in that process through in-person engagement sessions at libraries, youth-led neighborhood pop-ups, one-on-one interviews, and an online survey. You can learn more about the Strategic Direction engagement process here.

Based on insights from that community learning process, the Library set forth this specific goal regarding our buildings: invest in spaces that are safe, inviting, affirming, and comfortable for people of all cultures, abilities, and communities.

With the Strategic Direction as our springboard, the Library again led a community engagement process to inform our Facilities Direction in late 2019 and early 2020.

We engaged 1,680 people through the Facilities Direction process by online survey and, in order to go deeper with neighbors near the three branches in need of most repair, in-person, design thinking-based engagement sessions that reached more than 53 community members were held. The survey was translated into Somali and Spanish, and “Design Your Library” take-home engagement kits were made available for individuals and community groups. View photos from the Hamline Midway engagement session here.

With community input gathered through multiple avenues, along with an assessment of the condition and function of library buildings, the Library and our consultant, HGA, created a Facilities Direction report, which was made available to the public on our website. The report included methodology, themes from community engagement, and recommendations for SPPL.

The recommendations included a unique decision point for Hamline Midway Library, one of three locations in need of repairs: rebuild or renovate.

On March 4, 2020, the report was presented to the Saint Paul Library Board (who are also the City Council). One week later, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. As Saint Paul Public Library, we spent the remainder of 2020 responding to our community’s most urgent needs, developing and maintaining safety measures for staff and community, and managing budget and workforce reductions. The unprecedented scope, scale, and duration of multiple crises in 2020 meant we were unable to adhere to the original timeline laid out for further community engagement that year.

We heard that libraries in Saint Paul are well-loved, well-used, and well-worn.

In 2018, through engagement to inform our Strategic Direction, the Library heard:

• People want libraries to focus on young people and families.
• People want libraries to hold space for both quiet and loud activities.
• People face structural, cultural, and financial barriers to using libraries.
• People seek an environment that fosters safety and belonging.
• People seek programing beyond books and buildings.

In 2019, through engagement to inform our Facilities Direction, we talked with our community about our library buildings. We assessed their condition and function. We learned:

• Community members feel pride for their neighborhood library. The library is a strong connector in Saint Paul neighborhoods and patrons would like the library to play a stronger role. More than half of the respondents in the survey said, “I am willing to help make the library better.”
• Across demographic and age groups, the library is viewed as a place for exposure to new things and people and as a place to have connections with other people.
  • BIPOC respondents strongly valued their library as a place to spend time with family, attend meetings/gatherings, and be exposed to new things and people.
  • Most white respondents strongly valued access to diverse resources and the physical space and feel of the library.
• Outdated buildings struggle to support high use.
  • While circulation and visits remain strong, the collection is large and diverse, and program attendance is increasing, technology is falling behind, surfaces are worn, and the buildings are in serious need of investment.
  • In SPPL’s historic two-level buildings, many spaces are not easily accessible.
  • These buildings have limited access to outlets and data ports, and many are experiencing water infiltration.
  • Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems need significant investment.
• SPPL facilities are falling behind their peer library spaces. Interior spaces are inflexible and are challenged to provide consistent, quality learning, and play spaces. Entry areas should be more welcoming. Exterior and interior signage and wayfinding need improvement. Sightlines and staff work areas need reconfiguration. Meeting rooms require enhanced flexibility and improved AV technology. Furniture throughout the system needs replacement.

Key recommendations given to the Library by our consultant, based on their assessment of all buildings, usage and service data, and input from staff and community, included these insights:

• Cultural nuances and perceptions affect sense of belonging. Cultural includes generational, ethnic, family structure, and economic.
• Not all users understand how libraries are evolving, which can create clashing “norms.”
• Patrons look to have higher quality settings and experiential subtleties (inside and outside) that match their pride.
• Redesign space that is accessible and inclusive for a variety of modes of use.
• Engage teen space to meet their needs to grow, connect, and play.
• Activate the front and create a sense of welcome.
• Create initiatives to bring the neighborhoods together.
• Program intergenerational transition space.
• Create space and systems to support staff interacting with patrons.
• Technology within the library must evolve. Development of a consistent, base level of technology services delivered throughout the library system will create resources patrons can rely on.
• Library spaces should evolve to support play-based learning. Patrons helped SPPL understand the vast definitions and approaches of how play supports their learning and connecting—with themselves and others.

Saint Paul Public Library seeks public (city, state and federal funds), private, and individual support to fund its vision to transform libraries in Saint Paul. SPPL was awarded $8.1 million for the transformation of Hamline Midway Library.

The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library is an independent non-profit organization that partners with SSPL on programming and fund raising. The Friends are embarking on a capital campaign to leverage public funds.

In Saint Paul, city departments, including Saint Paul Public Library, make recommendations and decisions about Capital Investment Budget (CIB) priorities and funding proposals. Department leaders and staff review all available information and evidence to make recommendations informed by many inputs, including facility condition data, community input, staff expertise and experience, economic conditions, resources required and available (human and financial), feasibility, timeline, fit with department priorities, and fit with citywide priorities.

The City of Saint Paul has a long history of strong community engagement informing its capital investment decisions. The CIB Committee provides a structure for residents to review proposals from departments and make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council. Community members also provided input on the three priority library projects via a CIB online survey and community meeting in March 2021.

The Library submitted three proposals for funding through the City’s competitive Capital Investment Budget (CIB) Cycle for 2022/2023 bonding. The project proposals include:

• Hamline Midway Library: $8.1 million request to support one of two options: new building or renovation plus expansion on the current site.
  • Given the poor condition of the building, the Library sought to secure significant capital investment from the City as soon as possible.
  • The Library engaged community late in 2021 and is continuing to engage in 2022 to help inform which of two options advances forward as the future of this location.
• Hayden Heights Library: Request to renovate the library building, which was built in 1955 and last renovated in 1979.
• Riverview Library: Request to renovate the library building, which was built in 1917 and last renovated in 1989.

Following CIB Committee review and recommendation, Mayor and recommendation, and City Council review and approval, Hamline Midway Library was awarded a full investment of $8.1 million through the City’s CIB cycle for 2022/2023 bonding.

In December 2021, LSE Architects was selected by Saint Paul Public Library to engage community in co-creating schematic designs to transform three library buildings in Saint Paul.

In August 2021, SPPL released a request for proposals to select a design partner to develop community-informed designs for its three priority libraries. This phase includes community engagement, schematic designs, cost estimates, and 75% completed construction documents. LSE was selected through a competitive process in which a number of local and national architecture and design firms with library experience applied.

LSE stood out for its record of designing beautiful, functional community spaces that stand the test of time, for the way they walk the talk with racial and social equity, and for their creative, dynamic approach to community engagement, which aligns closely with SPPL’s goals and approach to work. Community engagement and schematic design work began early in 2022.

About LSE Architects

LSE is a Minneapolis-based, Black-owned firm that integrates equity into their business model, from their ownership and leadership representation to investments in career pathway apprenticeships to bringing on women and BIPOC-owned consulting partners to creating environments that reflect the culture of the communities in which they reside.

LSE’s current and past projects include the Midway YMCA; North High School in Minneapolis; Minnesota JCC; Oxboro, historic Sumner, and Webber libraries in Hennepin County; and the renovations of Sun Ray and Highland Park libraries in Saint Paul in 2015.

About the team

LSE's lead architect on the project is Lawal, who was recently named a fellow by the American Institute of Architects, and Principal Director of Public Studio and Project Manager Jennifer Anderson-Tuttle, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP.

LSE engages with eight other firms to contribute to this project. Among them, Tricia Heuring, a local educator, public art curator, and cultural organizer, is leading an artist cohort to conduct community engagement. The community engagement in library design builds upon existing community learning and listening efforts by SPPL.

This local artist cohort serves as consultants and advocates for the public art throughout the process as well as a historic consultant. Additional consultants ensure project designs maximize opportunities to achieve the City of Saint Paul’s sustainability and climate action plan goals.

Community members have helped us create design directions for Hamline Midway, Hayden Heights, and Riverview libraries that will transform these well-used, well-loved, and well-worn buildings into community gathering spaces to meet the needs of our community members now, and for the next generation.

Together, SPPL and LSE have designed a multi-pronged, equity-centered community engagement process that seeks to ensure that historically excluded perspectives and communities are at the center of this work. This includes young people, BIPOC communities, people who identify as trans or non-binary, and people with disabilities. SPPL and LSE has engaged the public through:

• Teen focus groups led by Youth Leadership Institute (collaborate)
• Community open houses and design workshops (involve)
• Listening sessions at each transformed library (involve)
• Artist creative encounters and Library Dream Boards (involve)
• Community surveys (involve)
• Pop-up events to increase the reach of the survey (involve)
• Online forms for feedback and paper feedback forms and activities in our libraries (involve)

In addition, we:

• Engaged library design project ambassadors who are community leaders of neighborhood groups, associations, and students who shared the needs they were hearing from their communities and could help share out about the process to their communities/colleagues/constituents. (involve/collaborate)
• Workshopped SPPL branch staff at three transforming library locations (collaborate)
• Emailed multiple newsletter updates (inform)
• Built a robust website (inform)
• Presented at the Library Board meetings (inform/consult)
• Offered virtual office hours (inform)
• Flyered neighborhood businesses (inform)

As previously mentioned, SPPL and LSE were intentional in listening to voices of historically excluded voices of BIPOC residents, youth, and trans/non-binary community members by:

• Using an Artist Cohort model. Art helps connect people to processes that can otherwise be inaccessible due to power structures, distrust in institutions, and language barriers.
• Dedicating time and space for Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) cohort. Intentionally giving young people power, voice, and more strategic influence over the process.
• Hosting pop-up events in community gathering sites like grocery stores, laundromats, and youth centers to talk to current and potential users of libraries.
• Inviting community leaders to be Library Design Project Ambassadors who are embedded into community serving organizations to avoid voyeuristic or extractive engagement processes.
• Highlighting disaggregated data on race/ ethnic background in the presentation and analysis of survey results.

Community engagement findings are outlined in the appendix of LSE’s predesign report.

When conducting community engagement, SPPL and LSE employ the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2 spectrum), which is designed to advance the practice of public participation by outlining public participation goals and commitments. Not all parts of the spectrum are used in every public participation process. For this project, the library committed to the IAP2 goals listed above in parenthesis.

To determine a design direction for Hamline Midway, Hayden Heights, and Riverview libraries, city administration weighed community input; building assessments; the overall project budget; and Saint Paul’s strategic goals for libraries, sustainability, equity and inclusion, and fiscal responsibility.

Directions are also informed by SPPL’s community-informed vision for library facilities that:

• Are safe, inviting, affirming, and comfortable libraries for people of all cultures, abilities, and communities.
• Have improved accessibility.
• Have additional spaces and study rooms for communities to gather, work, study, and collaborate.
• Separate quiet and loud spaces.
• Have enhanced play and learn spaces.
• Are technology-rich environments.

Hamline Midway

• Existing – 7,917 Gross Square Feet (GSF)
• New Building – 10,695 Gross Square Feet (GSF)

Hayden Heights

• Existing – 11,356 Gross Square Feet (GSF)

Riverview

• Existing – 8,238 Gross Square Feet (GSF)
• New Addition – 2,825 Gross Square Feet (GSF)
• Total – 11,063 Gross Square Feet (GSF)

  * These numbers reflect the entire gross square footage, and do not reflect the square footage of what is considered usable and/or open to the public.

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