Document text
RCC, county enter into library 'partnership' By DAMIAN MANN Rogue Community College plans to spend $80,000 a year under a 10-year agreement to use 12,000 square feet of the new Jackson County library headquarters. This proposed agreement would be part of RCC's plans to expand and unify its downtown Medford facilities to meet its increasing student population in Jackson County. The 72,000-square-foot library will be built by fall 2003 on the western half of the block between Ninth and 10th streets, adjacent to RCC's downtown campus. It will take $18 million of a $38.9 million voter-approved bond issue that will upgrade the county's library system. As part of the agreement, RCC students will have full use of the library facilities, said Tom Bradbeer, dean of human resources. RCC also will have a designated area with its own materials and resources needed by students. This area will be available to library patrons. In exchange for use of the facility, RCC will pay $50,000 a year toward operations and maintenance. The remaining $30,000 will be used to purchase materials and other equipment needed for library improvements. "This partnership will be one part of creating a great urban campus," said Bradbeer. RCC also plans to ask voters to approve a $30 million bond next May to build a downtown campus and to create a technical center, possibly at the Department of Veterans Affairs Domiciliary in White City. Faced with revenues that haven't kept pace with rapid growth, RCC recently cut $3.4 million out of its budget for next year. Bradbeer explained that these cutbacks are temporary and the school anticipates continued growth and increasing revenues by 2003. "We have two years to develop the budget to support that," he said. Ronnie Budge, Jackson County library director, said the new library will be a two-story brick structure. The first floor will offer conference rooms as well as an adult fiction area and a section with children's books. Both of these areas will be next to a garden. The second floor will have an information and services area that will be shared by RCC and library staff. This floor, somewhat bigger than the first, will also contain nonfiction books, magazines, newspapers, computer labs and small study rooms. On opening day, the library will have 125 computers available, but Budge anticipates the facility could eventually have as many as 200. "We will be wiring it in such a way that we can add computers and other technology that comes along," said Budge. The library also will feature audio-visual and language labs. "It's going to be a big library to accommodate the population of Medford over the next 25 years," said Budge. "This will be a totally integrated facility." Sal Mellelo, owner of three Mellelo coffee shops in Medford, has received a concession to install a coffee shop in part of the library building. The library, the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater and RCC are part of a city master plan to create a cultural corridor in downtown Medford. Budge said the library doesn't foresee any conflict between the use of the facilities by RCC students and the general public. "Students tend to use the library more in the morning and the public more in the afternoon and evenings," she said. Although the Medford Urban Renewal Agency has begun construction of more parking facilities this summer, Budge said they are only for short-term parking. The library requires about 130 spaces for its anticipated operations. The new parking lots are being built across from RCC's main campus and adjacent to the new library. RCC students have complained about the lack of parking, particularly long-term parking near the campus. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.