By Ashley McCuen

Special to the Reporter

The Kingsgate Library has been a staple to Kirkland neighborhoods since 1973, and with the library’s current massive renovation, design teams looked to families in the community for their unique and personal perspective.

After more than 10 years of planning and waiting, the staff and patrons are very enthusiastic for the remodel, which should be finished by March 2016. The process towards renovation began back in 2004 when King County voters passed a capitol bond of $172 million, with Kingsgate Library being one of the projects, according to Adrianne Ralph, the Public Services Facilities Design coordinator in the King County Library System.

The renovation includes additional study rooms, as well as an operable glass meeting room, which provides more square footage when no meetings are scheduled.

More windows will be added, along with a more spacious computer set up. An all new HVAC, electrical and fire systems, will be installed as well. More interior updates can be found in the design plans on the KCLS website. The goal is to create a library that will stand in the community for another 40 years, Ralph said.

In addition to these updates, the design team looked to the public for significant input. They held two large meetings in February and June of last year, where the public expressed its biggest concerns with how the library would benefit its youngest patrons.

“They articulated the things that they felt were problematic in the building. They wanted an additional study room, and we got that into the plan,” said Ralph, who acted as the translator between the architects and the public.

The public also gave compelling reasons why not to change the orientation of the front door, which the building committee agreed to rework.

The conversation was really a back and forth collaboration.

“The people in Kirkland and the Kingsgate area obviously care a lot about their library and have thought a lot about their library,” Ralph said.

The design team also will focus heavily on a children’s area. They will add an additional window to better connect children to the outside, a shelving design with a face-out display, so the library’s littlest patrons can view books clearly, and a new categorizing of books by topic instead of by author’s last name.

Jennifer Duffy, Kingsgate’s children’s librarian for nearly 15 years, explained that the project has been a long time coming for the community. Duffy hosts a number of programs throughout the year for kids ages one to 12. About 500 to 600 kids participate in her annual summer reading program.

“Plenty of people meet up here,” Duffy said. “We actually have people who walk to the library with their little red wagons, so it’s like Norman Rockwell.”

More than any other branch nearby, Kingsgate has a popular homework study program for kids, according to Duffy. Up to six students can meet in a four-hour session five days a week.

Library Cluster Manager Karen Hardiman said in all of the KCLS renovation projects, the goal is to create user-friendly libraries that benefit the community. She is pleasantly surprised that the small, temporary library continues to be busy, confirming that the Kirkland community values and relies on its library.

As Hardiman said, when it comes to Kingsgate Library, “The public is the key.”