Imagining San Mateo library improvements

As library staff, patrons and members of its board and foundation converged in celebrations of its 10th year in 2016, Ocón said they also reflected on ways the city’s library resources — which also include its Hillsdale and Marina branches — can better serve those who use them most.

“It was a milestone that we could celebrate — the accomplishments of the first 10 years — but it was also a good opportunity for us to look forward to the next 10 years and use it as a way to plan strategically,” he said.

Ocón said feedback gathered in the Main Library’s first decade as well as input from the outreach meetings that followed informed a roadmap of possible space modifications for the libraries. With guidance from EHDD Architects, the firm that designed the Main Library, the projects that rose as priorities were improvements to the Children’s Library and Teen Lounge, moving the Main Library’s third floor cafe to the first floor and redesigning the Hillsdale and Marina branch libraries around a single-desk service model, said Ocón.

With an increasing number of children and parents using children’s library in the Main Library, Ocón said reducing bookshelf heights and rearranging some of the play spaces and main desk could go a long way toward opening up the space where an increasing number of parents and children use educational play equipment such as touch-screen computers and wooden displays. He added that removing the amphitheater seating in the book bubble, a colorful space where story time is held, is expected to increase the number of children who can attend and allow for other uses of the space.

Ocón said a glazed glass partition near the book bubble and the third-floor teen lounge could contain noise from interactions between younger patrons in those areas without disrupting other patrons looking for quiet spaces. Combined with more signs marking the lounge, which is currently an open space with computers, tables for group study and comfortable seating, Ocón said the changes could encourage younger patrons to use the resources meant for them.

“It gives them a space that is really their space,” he said, adding that modern libraries are offering more collaborative work areas than they once did. “It makes it a welcoming place for youth and … that’s what we want … that’s what the community wants, too.”

San Mateo resident Tim Tran said he brings his 3-year-old daughter Leena Tran to the children’s library almost every day. Though no specific improvements for the space came to mind from Tran, he noted the library staff have been thoughtful about considering how the resources offered foster new learning opportunities.

“They’re very spot on and very forward-thinking in terms of the users,” he said, adding he’s grateful the touch-screen computer area gives kids a chance to learn new concepts. “It’s not just screen time, but it’s educational, too.”

Adopting a single-service desk model at the Hillsdale and Marina branches is also a response to shifting trends in library use, said Ocón, who claims consolidating their circulation and information desks in one area gives patrons a better sense of where to go with questions for a librarian or their library card accounts. Because electronic kiosks enables many to check out their own resources, Ocón said bringing several functions together at one desk has become best practice among libraries in the hopes it will also make more space available.

Ocón said the city’s two branch libraries feature high-interest materials, such as best sellers and periodicals, while specialized materials and research tools can be found online or at the Main Library, adding that the new set-up would clear the way for more books, magazines and other physical resources patrons are searching for at the branches.

“Space is a very big premium,” he said. “The additional space is actually very much desired at the branches.”

Though funding has been secured for the improvements for the children’s library and the branches through the library’s trust funds, contributions from the San Mateo Public Library Foundation and $100,000 in San Mateo County Measure K funds, Ocón said the teen lounge changes and moving a small cafe on the third floor to the first-floor main lobby so it shares space with a book shop maintained by the Friends of the Library are likely next on the list of improvements to be funded.

Ocón said rearranging the job seekers area, where those searching for jobs can use computer resources and speak with a volunteer trained in human resources, as well as the business library to create more multi-use space and resources as well as conference rooms are also being considered among the changes. Given San Mateo’s central location on the Peninsula, Ocón said the library has become a destination, noting library staff occasionally hear stories about how entrepreneurs started their companies or nonprofits held meetings in the library’s meeting spaces.

Ocón said the library’s patrons will have several opportunities to offer feedback in the coming months and years as ideas for improvements take shape and garner funding. Though he acknowledged the Main Library is still considered new by many, Ocón said the changes will give community members a chance to shape how libraries can better serve their needs.

“We just want to enhance the space … to meet the growing needs of the community,” he said.

A community meeting about the possible space modifications will be held 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, in the Oak Room at the San Mateo Main Library, 55 W. Third Ave.