The Cedar Park Public Library Turns “40 & Fabulous” The Library Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary In January.

Press release from the City of Cedar Park:

January 04, 2021

Library has grown from tiny space, to thriving community and educational center
that will anchor the Bell District; celebration to go throughout the month

The Cedar Park Public Library turns “40 & Fabulous” on January 17, 2021. The Library has come a long way from humble beginnings in a 500 square-foot space, to become the busiest of all Cedar Park facilities – offering everything from books and technology, to early literacy and STEM education resources. The new Cedar Park Public Library facility is currently under design and will anchor the Bell District.

Fittingly, the Library will revel in its fabulousness all January long, offering a cadre of community celebratory activities and “party favors” to patrons throughout the month. The anniversary theme is 40 & Fabulous: Explore today. Discover tomorrow.

Library Director Julia Mitschke says, “This January, as the Library commemorates its fortieth anniversary, we’re celebrating what the Library has done in those 40 years. We’re also looking ahead to all of the amazing things that we’re going to accomplish in the next 40 years, and all of the ways that the community is going get to enjoy the Library, moving forward.”

For more information on dates, times and details visit www.cedarparktexas.gov/cpplfab40.

Library history

In 1979, a group of concerned Cedar Park citizens brought a proposition before the Cedar Park City Council advocating for a local library. The City Council approved the first annual budget for the library, and dedicated volunteers worked diligently to establish the Cedar Park Public Library.

In December of 1980, the city hired Pauline Lam to serve as the Library Director. The Library officially opened on January 17, 1981 in a small storefront space in Cedar Park Plaza. It was moved that same year to a 1500 square-foot remodeled laundromat on Commercial Parkway, where it remained for nine years. In 1990, the City completed construction of a 7,300 square-foot space at 550 Discovery Boulevard. By 2001, thanks to bond funding passed by the citizens of Cedar Park and fundraising efforts of the Library Foundation, the Library was able to expand the space to 25,500 square feet, as it remains today.

Throughout its 40-year history, the Cedar Park Public Library Foundation and the Friends of the Cedar Park Public Library have been instrumental over the years, supporting library programs, materials and capital improvements. The Library has garnered more than $1.2 million in grants and fundraising over the years, including 76 grants, averaging one-to-four grants per year, with support ranging from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, to the Tocker Foundation and Dell Foundation’s Literate Community Grant. The Library raised more than $30,000 in 2020 alone. The Library Foundation and Friends of the Library have raised close to a quarter million dollars in the past decade.

The Library today

The Cedar Park Public Library’s mission to be the “Library of Yes” was more prominent than ever in 2020. From the start of the pandemic, the Library started curbside service so it could continue to serve the community with curbside checkout of books, audio books, movies and other materials. As Stay Home, Work Safe Orders lifted, the library transformed into a “grab-and-go library”, and transitioned all of its in-person programming and performances to digital. The Library had 260,000 Library visits last year, offered 74 virtual Library programs (story times and book clubs) with 6,000-plus attendees since the pandemic began and checked out 721,681 Library materials during Fiscal Year 2020. The average Cedar Park Public Library member saves $750 per year, based on the retail value of materials borrowed, and overall the Cedar Park community saved $11 million based on the retail value of materials checked out in Fiscal Year 2020.

The Library continues to engage, excite and entertain families across our community, in new and different ways. The Cedar Park Public Library is proud to be in its fifth year of participating in a national initiative called Family Place Libraries. The program aims to support young children and their families/caregivers by embracing the valuable role of play in early learning and early literacy.

Whether digitally or in-person, Mitschke says the Library is an amazing space where people connect to each other. “I love seeing a kid come in and connect with their parents through play in the “Learn, Play, Grow” space,” Mitschke says. “I love that ‘a-ha’ moment when a teen figures out a problem that they’ve been working on with the research that we have. I love seeing older adults come in and connect with each other at our movies and at craft clubs. It’s those moments when people connect together, that transforms their lives. The Library provides them with something that they didn’t have before by connecting with the people and resources here. It’s wonderful to see the effect that we can have on people and how everybody grows together as a community because of it.”

The future of the Library

In November 2015, about 60 percent of voters authorized $20.5 million in bond funding for a new library. These bonds will provide funding for construction, renovation or other costs relating to the Public Library. This may include additional program space, classrooms and conference rooms, quiet spaces, new technology, capacity for more materials and an increased parking capacity.

Plans have since evolved to include the new library in the Bell District, as part of the Bell Redevelopment Project. The Library will serve as an anchor for the District, which will feature approximately 16 acres of greenspace that includes a creek and dozens of large, majestic trees. The new library will be nestled among the trees and bordering the park. This beautiful setting creates unique design opportunities for the new library to create a gathering place unlike any other in the region.

In late 2020, City Council chose Lake | Flato Architects, Inc. to design the new library. Lake | Flato is an internationally-recognized firm responsible for exciting projects including the Pearl District and Witte Museum in San Antonio. The hallmark of their work is “distilling what a community wants to be, into a building”: creating “a great front porch” for the city, and a “civic living room”.

Mitschke says she is excited for the new library to be built in the Bell District, slated for construction in early 2022. “There are so many things that we want to do for the community that the current space doesn’t allow, and we’re really, really excited to give the community the Library that it deserves.”

This press release was produced by the City of Cedar Park. The views expressed are the author's own.