As hundreds of community leaders and library officials gathered Oct. 18 for a groundbreaking ceremony for the long-planned new Westside Library building and adjoining city park on the west side of Cedar Rapids, speakers stressed the new facility will provide much more than a larger, more modern book repository.
“As we break ground on this project today, we’re not just building a library, we are building a welcoming space for all here,” said Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell. “It’s our goal that it will exemplify our inclusivity, our community building and our vision for the future here, creating unique spaces where all can come together to learn, to have fun and to simply connect with our friends and neighbors.”
The new library, slated to open in late 2026, will replace the current 28,000-square-foot Ladd Library branch, which opened in February 2013 in a leased portion of a former Target store at 3750 Williams Boulevard SW. It will be located near the intersection of 20th Avenue and Wiley Boulevard SW, within walking distance of the current Ladd Library.
The new library will include:
- A square footage increase from 28,405 square feet at Ladd Library to nearly 40,000 square feet.
- Increased space for children’s learning, with zones for creative play, technology use, and motor skill development.
- Ten study rooms, a large conference room, and a conference center, all available for public use.
- Outdoor reading courtyards and a library lawn for gathering and programs.
- Additional and better designed space for the Opportunity Center and library partners to provide services.
- Increased accessibility for ease of use, as well as connections to walking trails and sidewalks for pedestrian traffic.
The library has an estimated cost of just under $25 million, according to city council documents.
The project will also include a new six-acre city park, making it a destination for the entire community, a point stressed by city administrator Jeff Pomeranz.
“This vision, as all of you know, has gone way beyond a state-of-the-art library to a brand new city park that we’re so excited about,” Mr. Pomeranz said. “Our pledge to the community is we’re going to make sure that this park is something we’re all extremely proud of and is a true benefit to the entire community of Cedar Rapids, and in particular this area of Cedar Rapids, which is so important to us.”
Cedar Rapids Public Library director Dara Schmidt summarized the new library’s planning process, which began in 2018 with a realization that the library needed a more permanent home.
She noted that in the past ten years, the library’s west side locations in Westdale Mall and the Ladd Library site have had 2.7 million items checked out and seen more than two million visitors.
“Each year it’s been open, 76,000 people have used the single meeting room, and almost 50,000 people have attended educational programs,” she said. “But back in 2018, we decided it was a future problem.”
Through community input sessions, stakeholder visioning meetings, and design and planning meetings over the past four years, a vision for the new westside library began to emerge, Ms. Schmidt said.
“This project is so much bigger than any of us individually, and it is something that will leave a legacy for our community,” she said. “It takes a community to build a community, and that is why we are able to put these shovels in the ground today.”
Funding for the project includes American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocations of $6 million from the city of Cedar Rapids and $4 million from Linn County, an ongoing “Inspiring Big Dreams” fundraising campaign by the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation, and a $2 million donation in 2020 from the estate of Cedar Rapids resident Nadine Sandberg, which served as the launching point for the fundraising campaign.
Linn County supervisor Ben Rogers said the new library and park will serve as a foundational project for the west side of Cedar Rapids, and recounted his own experiences with libraries, which he said he recently extended by helping his young daughter get her own library card.
“I want us … to think about what this building will mean for future Cedar Rapidians,” Mr. Rogers said. “ Whether they were born here, whether they come here, the different languages they speak, their different life perspectives, they will have a 21st-century modern, aesthetically gorgeous building designed by OPN that connects people with people, and people to knowledge and information and people to their environment. It is my hope in the future that there is a leader from Cedar Rapids who uses this library, who’s talking to another group of leaders about how important this library was to their well-being and their childhood.”
Charity Tyler, executive director of the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation, echoed Mr. Rogers’ sentiments, noting that the groundbreaking was taking place on America Reads Day, an annual celebration of the importance of books and reading.
“My children are being taken on a journey,” she said, “whether it’s in their imagination or across the country or around the world, and that’s what this library is going to do for our community for generations to come.”
“This new library will be a beacon of knowledge, creativity and resources, where lives – and our workforce – will be transformed,” added Monica Challenger, president of the Cedar Rapids Public Library board of trustees. “It will offer everyone the opportunity to embark on their own adventure right here in Cedar Rapids, where imaginations soar and adventures come to life for all ages … This is our city’s testament to its commitment of enriching lives through the power of reading and resources. Let us take a moment to celebrate not just the physical construction of the library, but also the countless adventures and opportunities it will bring to our community.”
