Community Listening Session Meeting Summary and Compilation of Public Comments

Location: Tenley-Friendship Interim Library, 4200 Wisconsin Ave. N.W.,Washington, DC 20016

Meeting Purpose: Community listening meeting and discussion of hopes and dreams for the new Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library.

Meeting Format: Presentation and interactive workshop format.

• Using adhesive dots, participants were asked to identify their residence on an aerial map of the neighborhood surrounding the interim library site.
• Display boards were used to showcase notable design and programming ideas from other libraries across the country.
• Another set of boards displayed 18 library service response categories.
• Using color-coded adhesive dots, meeting participants were able to identify their service priorities. Participants also provided written comments, which are presented in this summary.
• The presentation included an overview of project implementation and a discussion of service priorities.
•  A facilitated discussion allowed participants to provide comments and ask questions of District library staff.

Attendees: Sixty-two community members added their names to the sign-in sheets. DCPL staff participants included Ginnie Cooper, Archie Williams, Elissa Miller and Jeff Bonvenchio. The following members of the CirclePoint consulting team attended the meeting: W. Steve Lee and Tosin Durotoye.

Following introductions, Ginnie Cooper, Chief Librarian for the District of Columbia Public Library
(DCPL), introduced the project, purpose of the meeting, discussed the constraints and opportunities
facing the project, and provided context for the 18 library service responses and how they were
developed. The public was then given the opportunity to discuss and identify their top service
priorities using the 18 existing service responses as a guide. The following were identified as the top three priorities (1 is the most important):

Create Young Readers: Early Literacy (1)
Visit a Comfortable Place: Physical and Virtual Places (2)
Satisfy Curiosity: Lifelong Learning (3)

The remaining service responses are listed in order of importance as were indicated by the
participants:

Stimulate Imagination: Reading, Viewing and Listening for Pleasure (4)
Connect to the Online World: Public Internet Access (5)
Succeed in School: Homework Help (6)
Get Facts Fast: Ready Reference (7)
Be an Informed Citizen: Local, National and World Affairs (7)
Know Your Community: Community Resources and Services (8)
Make Informed Decisions: Health, Wealth and Other Life Choices (9)
Understand How to Find, Evaluate and Use Information: Information Fluency (10)
Learn to Read and Write: Adult, Teen and Family Literacy (11)
Discover Your Roots: Genealogy and Local History (12)
Express Creativity: Cultural Awareness (13)
Celebrate Diversity: Cultural Awareness (14)
Welcome to the United States: Services for New Immigrants (14)
Build Successful Enterprise: Business and Nonprofit Support (15)
Make Career Choices: Job and Career Development (15)

Participants were also given the opportunity to share and express other service and program
priorities that were not represented in the list of 18 services. The following lists some of the
additional priorities:

• Community meeting rooms
• Designated quiet room
• Safe, welcoming, free public space with intellectually stimulating ways to pass time
• Green and environmentally friendly library building
• Area with challenging games for children
• Performance space for children
• Longer and more frequent library hours
• Library with natural light
• Space for small pets such as fish or hamsters to amuse and teach kids about animals
• Dedicated space for sign language, foreign language and book club program
• Community programs including lecture series and classes
• Story time programs for young children
• Community program to recycle and donate used books

Compilation of Additional Comments & Questions

The meeting schedule and organization did not allow time for responses by the DCPL staff and board to each question or comment.

• Provide an exciting, comfortable, and accessible space for school-aged students to read and conduct research
• Support for school kids should include quality nonfiction books that are aligned with the school curriculum.
• Need a good book collection with classics and other in-depth reading materials.
• Open the new library soon.
• Explore a mixed use plan with affordable housing above library for our community’s firefighters, librarians and teachers.
• Need ergonomically supportive chairs at reading tables and computers.
• Would like an outdoor view of trees and a garden.
• The new Tenley-Friendship Library needs to be well maintained.
• Please don’t try and do so much that nothing is done well.
• Need a good book collection that does not only include best-sellers.
• Need a space for after school programs such as the Janney School’s extended day program.
• The new Tenley-Friendship buildings should be a gold or platinum LEED-certified building where patrons can learn more about energy efficiency and sustainable buildings.
• Card catalog needs to be easily accessible.
• Need Wi-Fi access.
• Public meeting space available outside of library hours.
• Need a space for all students to come after school to do homework.
• Would like to see the Spring Valley/Army Corps of Engineers documents that are currently haphazardly stored at the Palisades Public Library branch.
• The new Tenley-Friendship Library needs an adequate number of working computers, printers and bathrooms.
• Starbucks and Barnes & Noble serve as good models for the new library design.
• The new Tenley-Friendship Library should be accessible to the entire community including public, private and religious organizations.
• Include in the new library design office space for the Ward 3 Council to provide constituent services.
• Community meeting space needs to be accessible even when the library is closed.
• Would like to see a good selection of new and old books and films.
• Need a section dedicated to the history of Tenleytown.
• Design the library and offer services that can expand to fit the projected population growth in the area.
• Would like there to be helpful librarians who can guide research and information gathering.
• Need more in-depth books to be available at the library site.
• Consider the Fort Reno Public Library space, which is close to two schools, a Metro station and also has green space.
• The library should have more adult nonfiction books.
• Consider a mixed-use building for the new Tenley-Friendship Library as we want an active streetscape along Wisconsin Avenue.
• The new Tenley-Friendship Library needs to be built without delay and without condos on top.
• Need quality historical, scientific, political and foreign language books for all ages.
• Would like an area to hold conversations/debates on a variety of topics.
• Programs for children often feel like an afterthought in the lives of busy librarians (i.e. story time).
• The Tenley-Friendship Library needs more books and not more programs.
• The library needs to partnering with Janney Elementary School.
• Need enough computers and available ports for patrons to plug in personal computers.
• New Tenley-Friendship library needs to be inviting enough to pull passersby into the space.
• Need an excellent civic space/building the community can be proud of.
• Consider performance space as the Janney School lacks an auditorium, and the available space at Eldebrook Church is likely to disappear as the church is currently up for sale.
• The new Tenley-Friendship Library needs a dedicated space for research.
• Hangout space for kids, preschoolers, seniors and homeless are all in immediate vicinity, but what is needed is a separate space for people who want to do work.
• Meeting and study space for groups of over 100 people are available at local churches.
• Would like to suggest visiting the Ann Arbor, Mich., public library for a shining example of a library that works.
• Keep community informed about the planning process and allow input from the public.
• Provide information, resources and references for family preparedness, schools and businesses.
• The new library in Princeton, NJ, is an excellent library model.
• The Tenley-Friendship community includes many residents who support a mixed-use library facility.
• Decorate the new Tenley-Friendship Library with blown-up vintage photos of Tenleytown.
• The new Tenley-Friendship Library needs to focus on children and young adults.
• Create excitement early on about the library, books and information gathering to encourage the development of life-long readers within in the community.