Imagine how Seminole residents felt as they entered their new library, with its computer lab, children's section replete with fanciful trees and castles, expanded book selection, easy chairs facing picture windows and cafe. It must have been far from their thoughts that this joint-use project with St. Petersburg College was born five years ago in controversy and doubt. Today, the library is a shiny example of what can be accomplished through cooperation.
In 1998, Seminole had a decent but crowded library across the street from the city's nascent SPC campus. Both the city and college were about to enter a growth spurt, and both knew they would need larger library facilities. They could have gone their own ways and built separate libraries. But city and college officials realized that by combining their resources, they could afford a much better facility to serve residents and students.
Sounds simple, but there were many obstacles to overcome. The two sides had sometimes conflicting needs, and city residents expressed surprisingly strong objections to a joint-use library. Some feared their library would lose its identity, others just feared change. But city and college officials stuck with it. "A partnership is a partnership," explained Frank Edmunds, Seminole's city manager. "To me that means compromise and common ground, and you have to work out the difficulties around that."
After a tireless effort to inform city residents and some heated public meetings, the city and college signed an agreement. SPC would build and maintain the library and the city would run it. With residents evenly divided on the issue at the time, it took some courage for the Seminole City Council to approve the deal. Today, who would second-guess that decision?
The college spent more than $7-million on the library, which includes classrooms. The city tripled the size of its library space but figures it won't cost more to staff it, because the college will pick up any extra expense for opening on Sundays and closing later to serve students. The college will see substantial savings, too, because the city will cover the $750,000 annual staffing cost.
That was the first project of its kind, but last year St. Petersburg agreed to build a joint-use branch library on SPC's campus at Fifth Avenue and 66th Street. That decision was controversial, as well, but it will allow the city to enlarge and upgrade its library without increasing operating costs, and serve the college's growing need for space. If the project is as successful as the one in Seminole, no one will remember there were doubts.
Such cooperation is still too rare in Pinellas County, but the city of Seminole and SPC showed the way.
