After years of dwindling space, Rochester's only library restarts talks on expanding

ROCHESTER – The staff at this community's public library sort through about 3,300 returned books a day. They accept about 2,000 donated books each week from the community. And in recent years, they've been running out of space to put those books.

Rochester officials are once more starting talks on expanding the Rochester Public Library's footprint, only a few years removed from a failed $55 million proposal to add a third floor to the 85,000-square foot facility.

"We've really struggled a long time with space," library director Karen Lemke said.

The talks come as the Rochester library and libraries across the state transition from book depositories to community centers and technological spaces. Rochester's library is the largest in southeastern Minnesota, but staff say the library needs more physical space to maintain its presence.

The building's sorting area is cramped and likely won't be able to handle circulation increases in the future, even as the library lent more than 2 million items in 2022. Book hold times continue to stretch as the library struggles to keep up with demands for popular items such as Prince Harry's new memoir "Spare."

The library's current building opened in 1993 after a report five years prior outlined increasing usage among Rochester's growing population. The report also recommended a branch in the future, but the city has stuck with one downtown building.

Officials suggested the library be built at about 103,500 square feet, but declining sales tax revenue forced the city to cut back – the first of several obstacles for library staff over the years, including a burst water pipe that flooded the building in September 2019.

Lemke said the library's circulation has almost doubled since 1995. Its customer base increased by 50% as well.

The space constraints have forced staff to jury-rig more space for patrons. Work space was converted into a teen area more than a decade ago, public space has given way to a new books area, and a former staff office is now an art room.

Yet a former public meeting room is now a staff room, and the library can no longer accommodate all the requests for meeting or event space.

Rochester officials hoped to turn that around when talks started in 2013 about a two-story expansion at the library. The building was constructed with additional floors in mind, but officials ultimately decided to pitch a third-floor expansion in 2016.

The city turned to Olmsted County and Destination Medical Center (DMC) for help in offsetting high construction costs, but the county board and DMC officials turned down the proposal. Library officials say the city must restart planning for some sort of expansion, whatever form it takes.

"We need to begin understanding how best to plan together to work with the City Council and Rochester members to best move forward," said Adam Meyers, the Rochester Public Library board president.

There's no timeline for the city to work out a proposal, and solutions vary among Rochester's elected leaders.

Mayor Kim Norton suggested during a Rochester City Council meeting Monday that the city look into a drop-off/pickup facility, short of a new library branch. Council Member Patrick Keane suggested the library leave activities such as kid-related events or community meetings to other groups in town, though several council members disagreed.

The council and library board appear to agree on one thing: The library should remain in downtown.

Library Board member Nicholas Goetzfridt said the space concerns affect the library's mission to serve everyone in the community. He signed up to borrow Cormac McCarthy's latest book, "The Passenger," in October as soon as he could, but found he was 15^th on the waiting list.

"I thought, 'I want to read this now,' so I went out and just bought it, but there are people who can't do that," he said. "There's an issue of equity, certainly."