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What do residents want in new library?

Atherton residents who want to learn more about and comment on a plan to build a new library in Holbrook-Palmer Park will have opportunities at three community meetings in March that will focus on the design and size of the facility, as well as its programs.

A meeting was also held Saturday, Feb. 25. The remaining meetings are set for Tuesday, March 6, from 4 to 6 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., both in the library at 2 Dinkelspiel Lane in the Town Center; and Thursday, March 22, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Holbrook-Palmer Park Pavilion at 150 Watkins Ave.

The meetings are sponsored by the Atherton Library Building Steering Committee, which for about two years has been studying the need to either renovate the existing library or build a new facility.

The City Council recently approved the committee's recommendation to build a new library in the park — an idea opposed by a vocal group of residents, some of whom want the existing library in the Town Center to be renovated.

Denise Kupperman of the library steering committee said the meetings are being facilitated by Shauna Wilson Mora of the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, and David Schellinger of Lowercaseproductions, a San Francisco "branding" and information design firm.

"We understand that the location of the library is pending completion of the EIR (environmental impact report), and that there is some controversy," Ms. Kupperman wrote in an email. "However, in the meantime, it is important to gain insight into what services, collections, programs and spaces the community wants included in the library.

"These aspects will inform the determination of the size of the new library, and we also need to gain an understanding of what the community wants the library to look like."

On March 6, between the two scheduled meetings at the library, the Friends of the Atherton Library has scheduled a Jump for Joy Music performance for children. The program is set to begin at 6 p.m. at the library.