IRVINE — A “cultural department store” with a library, a full-size bookstore, a cafe and a restaurant in an open-ceiling space.
An “edutainment” complex with simulator rides and a children’s museum. Or a tech center where you have access to high-end 3D printers.
Those are three ideas consultants pitched to the City Council this week for a planned library at the developing Orange County Great Park, which Irvine officials envision as a world-class urban park that matches the size of San Diego’s Balboa Park when fully built.
The Great Park library could be a high-profile project to re-imagine the traditional library, the consultants said, at a time when most people can access the Internet anytime, anywhere at their fingertips through smart phones.
“This facility I don’t want to call it a library,” said Ed Garnett, vice president of business development at Library Systems Services, which operates 83 libraries across the country. “It’s almost like a cultural center. It could be a jewel of the Great Park.”
The presentation on Tuesday, Nov. 28, came as the city is trying to figure out how to develop the 233-acre Cultural Terrace, the final major piece of the Great Park, where the city is considering an amphitheater, a lake, a library, museums and Wild Rivers Water Park.
Councilwoman Melissa Fox said she invited Maryland-based Library Systems Services representatives to learn about possibilities for the Great Park library.
“We learned that libraries are some of the most exiting public spaces around the world and we have tremendous potential in Irvine,” Fox said after the presentation. “I’m more excited about it now.”
Garnett and his colleague, Steve Coffman, presented three future library models from around the world.
The first was from Japan, where some public libraries are run by private company Culture Convenience Club, which has a nationwide chain of video rental shops and bookstores called Tsutaya.
These “Tsutaya libraries” typically have a full-service library, a bookstore and a Starbucks under one roof. They allow outside drinks, play background music, have comfortable chairs and are open at night — designed to make visitors feel at home and stay longer.
In the city of Tagajo, with a population of 62,000, the public library increased the number of visits by 15 times, from 93,288 to 1.42 million since Tsutaya took over, according to Library Systems Services. The average length of visits improved from 30 minutes to three hours.
“We think what they’re doing there is one of the most interesting innovations in the library world in quite a while,” Coffman said. “And my sense is that it — or some variation on it — could also play well in the U.S., perhaps in Irvine.”
However, Tsutaya libraries have faced some backlash in Japan, especially from folks who prefer traditional libraries that focus on renting out books.
The second model presented was Cybrary, a cyber library proposed in Homestead, Fla., outside of Miami, where the city partnered with Landmark Entertainment Group, a company behind Spider-Man and Jurassic Park rides at Universal Studios.
Visitors will be greeted by a robot, and book characters will come to life with a virtual reality headset.
The last model, Do Space, opened in 2015 at a former Borders bookstore site in Omaha, Neb.
It’s a nonprofit community center focused on offering free access to technology, featuring a digital library and 3D scanners and printers. The center is intended to supplement, not replace, libraries, Coffman said.
Fox said she is excited about the Cybrary and Do Space models because they fulfill a crucial role of the library — access to expensive educational amenities such as 3D printers individual families can’t afford.
“Maybe we can partner with tech companies like Google who want to showcase their technology,” she said.
One thing that’s in the mind of many Irvine council members is cost.
They acknowledge the city’s existing three public libraries aren’t enough. But they weren’t convinced by then-Mayor Steven Choi’s proposal in 2016 to build a $152 million mega library — larger than three football fields — at the Great Park.
Councilwoman Christina Shea said Orange County has different demographics than cities like New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, which have massive metropolitan libraries.
“If we can do it with a much smaller footprint to start building sooner than later, that’s what I prefer,” she said. “We can spend the next 30 years raising money for a library, but it’s just not feasible.”
The Tsutaya libraries in Japan rely on private-public partnerships, where Tsutaya operates the library and the bookstore and pays cities rent on retail space, Coffman said.
At Cybrary, some attractions are free and other charge fees, Garnett said. The $7 million Do Space project was funded by local philanthropists.
“It’s invigorating to me that we have different options on how to create our library,” Shea said, suggesting the city can maybe spend up to about $25 million for a library.
A commonality among these three models is that they give visitors what Garnett described as a “full experience,” not just checking out books, where they can spend hours.
Mayor Don Wagner opposed the idea of building a library during last year’s election, mostly, he said, because of a lack of interest among residents.
But he said this week that he was intrigued by the presentation.
“I think it’s a concept worth exploring because it’s a better fit in the Cultural Terrrace than just a plain old library,” Wagner said. “It’s a more versatile space, which I like.”
However, Wagner warned it may be too early to discuss specifics of the library project because the city still hasn’t identified all the amenities that will go in the Cultural Terrace. The City Council in October decided to hire a consultant to help the city figure that out.
Irvine would be a great place to try new library ideas, including private-public partnerships, because of the planned community’s high population and emphasis on education, Coffman said.
“I think there are some really attractive options out there, and we are looking for folks like yourself who are innovative to partner with and put a library really for the future,” Garnett told the City Council.
