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City may gain old library Photo by Steve Johnson The Jackson County Headquarters Library building, which began with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, will stay as is with a different function, city officials say. Bond would free up Medford's Carnegie building By JIM DAVIS For more than eight decades, the old Carnegie library in downtown Medford has served readers and idle souls. The question now: What's the next chapter? Under the deed to the building, the Carnegie library would revert from county ownership to the city of Medford if the building is not used as a library, said Jackson County Library Director Ronnie Budge. And that may happen if Jackson County passes a bond next March that would rebuild or relocate many of its library branches. Under initial plans for the proposed bond, Medford is targeted to get a new 74,000- to 78,000-square-foot headquarters building -- probably near the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater, Budge said. So, if the bond passes, Medford gets a new library and the city of Medford gets ownership of the historic 15,000-square-foot Carnegie library. "I'm confident that the city will keep it for some public purpose," Budge said. Cathy Davis, assistant Medford city manager, said that the city hasn't put much effort into coming up with uses for the historic building. "We know there's a possibility that it could come back to us," Davis said. "But until that's more certain, there's no use in putting any planning in it." She said that the building will be extremely valuable, as it's in the middle of the civic center. "Certainly we have a need for office space, and most likely that's what we would use it for," Davis said. Don Burt, director of the Medford Urban Renewal Agency, said that the agency's board has been told by the community to keep the building. "Primarily, we were told, `Don't tear it down,"' Burt said. Burt said one idea floated around is to use the building as a ceremonial community center for special events, dignitaries and possibly even weddings. "The question (of what to do with it) is going to have to be answered," Burt said. "We ought to begin talking about it." The history of library services in Medford began in 1903 when a private library association was formed with dues of 25 cents per month. In 1908, the Medford City Council established a public library in the City Hall. During this time, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was donating money to many cities for new library buildings. After a request from the city of Medford, Carnegie pledged $20,000 to the community for a library on the condition that the city would support the building with $2,000 a year for maintenance. The building was completed by Feb. 8, 1912, at a cost of $17,298. It served a population of 10,000 and originally held 20,000 books. In 1979, Medford deeded the library building to the county. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA