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IN THE PHOTO: The Emily Scott and Joseph Wood Evans Clocktower is the prominent architectural feature of the new Looscan Neighborhood Library and houses a unique garden book archive donated by The Garden Club of Houston.
PRESS RELEASE
New Looscan Neighborhood Library Opens to the Public
HOUSTON (Friday, September 14, 2007) – The Houston Public Library (HPL) recently held a ribbon-cutting and opening celebration for the new Looscan Neighborhood Library located at 2510 Willowick, 77027. Community members were joined by city representatives, library supporters and neighbors to preview the city’s newest library. In attendance at the public opening were Bill White, Mayor, City of Houston, Pam Holm, Council Member, District G, City of Houston, Rhea Brown Lawson, Ph.D., Houston Public Library Director, Issa Dadoush, Director, General Services Department, City of Houston, Bonnie Brooks, Friends of Neighborhood Libraries President, and Franklin D.R. Jones, Jr., J.D., Chair of the Houston Public Library Foundation.
The new building was designed by Jackson & Ryan Architects with partner Martha Seng, AIA, leading the firm’s design team, in cooperation with HPL’s Planning and Facilities Division with Assistant Director John Middleton providing oversight. Gilbane Building Co. was the general contractor. The City of Houston’s General Services Department provided contract management services.
FEATURES
A 20,000-square-foot building, the new Looscan Neighborhood Library is a replacement for the original 1956 facility that served the community for nearly 50 years. The new building provides more than double the space, and includes separate areas for library materials and reading spaces, including The Marsha Moody Children’s Reading Room, a teen reading area, and a comfortable adult periodical reading room with an expansive outside view. Customers will enjoy the additional public access computer workstations, conference and meeting rooms, and the Internet café (which will open by year’s end).
The Emily Scott and Joseph Wood Evans Clocktower is the prominent architectural feature and houses a unique garden book archive donated by The Garden Club of Houston. The works of recognized artists enhance the facility, including a large art mural by Bert Long, Jr. (debuting in October), and donor walls and sculptural benches by Kelly Gale Amen. Looscan’s interiors feature warm woodwork, coffered ceilings, a sophisticated mix of traditional and contemporary furnishings and lighting, and a spectacular stainless steel staircase.
The Looscan Neighborhood Library’s Garden Archive Room will house a unique gardening collection that will be a combination of The Garden Club of Houston archives and Library circulating materials on Houston gardening and its landscape history. Made possible by a $200,000 donation from The Garden Club of Houston, the ongoing partnership will make this collection available to all HPL customers. The donation was funded by a bequest from Winifred Busby Hirsch, a member of The Garden Club of Houston and a gift from the Thomas L. Carter Family, among others.
The library has more than 60,000 books and materials. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in the collection make for easy inventory control and faster customer check-in and check-out. In addition, customers can bring their own laptops and use HPL’s free wireless access, or use one of the 42 available computer stations and laptops.
HPL GOES GREEN
The new Looscan Neighborhood Library is HPL’s first “green” library. It was designed from the start using sustainable construction and operating methods to improve environmental quality and will be the City of Houston’s first facility certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (L.E.E.D.) Green Building Rating System™. The most visible result of this initiative for customers is beneath their feet. Looscan is the first HPL library that uses recycled rubber flooring throughout most of the building. In this application it looks somewhat like terrazzo, but it is quiet, soft on the feet, and very easy to clean.
FRIENDS OF NEIGHBORHOOD LIBRARIES (FONL)
This facility was created as a partnership between the City of Houston, Council Member Pam Holm, the Friends of Neighborhood Libraries (FONL) Board, neighborhood volunteers, professional pro-bono services and generous donors. FONL coordinated the fundraising efforts which resulted in $2.5 million raised to enhance the library.
The original Looscan Neighborhood Library was one of the first eight branch libraries opened by the Houston Public Library system. After nearly 50 years with no renovations, Looscan Library was in need of a new facility. In late 2003, there was a community proposal to sell the Looscan site and build a new library in another area of the community. To retain Looscan at its original site, Friends of Neighborhood Libraries (FONL), a nonprofit organization, was created in December 2003 to raise money for additional land and building upgrades.
FONL raised $1 million in four months to acquire the property adjacent to Looscan. The land was donated to the City of Houston with a permanent restriction requiring it to be a library site. Continued fundraising efforts raised an additional $1.5 million. Since FONL is an all-volunteer organization, more than 98 percent of total donations are dedicated to the new Looscan Neighborhood Library.
“The Looscan Neighborhood Library project represents a great community and library partnership,” said Dr. Rhea Brown Lawson, director of the Houston Public Library. “The staff and I appreciate the overwhelming support and enthusiasm for this library and we look forward to serving the community. We encourage long-time and new customers to visit often.”
HISTORY OF LOOSCAN
The original Looscan Neighborhood Library was opened on March 6, 1956. The 8,000-square-foot facility was named in memory of Adele Briscoe Looscan, who had previously served as the first president of the City Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Women’s Reading Club and had been a leader in the movement to establish a library system that became Houston Public Library. As a charter member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the Texas State Historical Society, Ms. Looscan wrote and published numerous articles on Texas history. Upon her death, she bequeathed her large personal library to the newly founded Houston Public Library.
The library is located at 2510 Willowick, 77027, 832.393.1900. Looscan will open for regular operating hours beginning Thursday, September 6, 2007. The hours will be:
Monday 10 AM-8 PM
Tuesday 10 AM-6 PM
Wednesday 10 AM-6 PM
Thursday 12-8 PM
Friday 12-6 PM
Saturday 10 AM-6 PM
Sunday CLOSED
ABOUT HPL
The Houston Public Library (HPL) operates 36 neighborhood libraries, a Central Library (under renovation until early 2008), the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, the Parent Resource Library located in the Children’s Museum of Houston, and the Clayton Library, Center for Genealogical Research. Serving 4 million customers per year, HPL is committed to excellent customer service and equitable access to information and programs by providing library patrons with free use of a diverse collection of printed materials and electronic resources, Internet, laptop and computer use, and a variety of database and reference resources with live assistance online 24/7.
For further information, visit the Houston Public Library at www.houstonlibrary.org or call 832-393-1313.
