Richmond, yes!

The Richmond Public Library has served us well over the decades. But as the city grows, as technology evolves, as peoples' desire for positive community experience intensifies, our Library becomes less able to fulfill its mission.

The Library is too small. To meet national standards for our city's population, it must double in size. Reliable projections for the growth of the Bay Area predict that the space shortage will only become more critical.

The Library is also disconnected from other important civic functions. In countless cities, the library, museum and city hall, all surrounding a central square, define a commons, the place where a community's identity takes root and expresses itself. There is no such place in Richmond today. The Richmond Museum of History and the Library now stand miles from one another.

We've got a plan

City leaders are shaping a plan to reunite the Library and the Richmond Museum.

• A key component: construction of a new library at the Civic Center. At twice the space of the current library, this new home will reflect the emerging role of libraries today as hubs of community, learning and technology.
• The Richmond Museum will relocate to the existing library builidng, enjoying three times the amount of space it occupies in its cramped Nevin Street location.

How can you help?

• Are you enthused about this plan? Then let others know. Describe it to friends and neighbors.
• Get involved. Voice your support at City Council meetings. Write letters to local newspapers.
• Make a donation earmarked for Richmond, yes! Your donation will help lay the foundation for the capital campaign to build a new Library at the Civic Center.