A larger, more exciting downtown library could attract people from all over the city.

It could serve as a centerpiece for downtown, or at least become one of its anchor amenities.

The current Bennett Martin Public Library could be much  more, according to the vision of the Lincoln City Libraries staff and trustees. But don’t look for construction to start any time soon.

At this point, it’s a matter of finding money and the right location, and getting the right people on board, said Jeff Kirkpatrick, a Lincoln City Libraries trustee.

The right location is a major challenge because the library board envisions a full city block for a new main library.

That may have prompted the rumor that Bennett Martin could move into a renovated Pershing Center if a new arena is built and the downtown auditorium is vacated.

It’s true that moving Pershing would provide a great opportunity for building a new library, said Carol Connor, director of Lincoln City Libraries. Using the Pershing building itself, however, has been ruled out. 

“It would be a challenge to make it functional,” Connor said.

If the space became available, she said, the library board would be very interested in building a new main library there. However, lots of other entities might have their eye on the space as well. “I’m sure we wouldn’t be the only ones interested,” she said.

In any case, the library board would prefer to build a new building on a downtown lot large enough to provide parking.

The idea of updating the main library has been tossed about for several years, even before a 2003 study by Clark Enersen architects and a library consultant identified a concept.

A public library has stood at 14th and N streets for more than a century, starting with a Carnegie library built in 1902. The current library was built in three phases, starting in 1960 with a gift from businessman and former mayor Bennett Martin and his wife, Dorothy.

It has been maintained well, and  in recent years, private money paid for updates to the children’s area, Connor said. Other improvements also have been made.

But Bennett Martin Public Library as it stands is an undersized building with antiquated utilities and little flexibility for adding services, Connor said.

The 2003 study looked at expanding and renovating the library, but “The architects said no, you just don’t have the foundation there,” Kirkpatrick said.

The Pershing renovation prospect was explored in light of Peru State College’s recent conversion of an old gym into a new library. But Pershing proved to be a bad option because of how the building is laid out, Kirkpatrick said, “You would have a lot of space that is not usable but that you still need to heat and cool.”

The 2003 study proposed building a new 150,000-square-foot library, more than twice the 64,000 square feet Bennett Martin now occupies.

The cost is estimated at $47.5 million for construction starting in 2012, Connor said. The 2003 estimate had been around $30 million.

A new downtown library would not need to stand alone, Connor said. It could be a true downtown destination paired with other uses, such as street-level retail, Connor said.

“It might sound a little unusual, but libraries can contribute to the economic development in a downtown center,” she said, “You have to make it exciting and attractive.”

She pointed to libraries such as one in Des Moines, Iowa, that has  become part of the city’s cultural scene.

Also, a new library could be designed in a way that would keep operational costs down, Connor said, because it could use energy more efficiently and be more functional for library staff.

Without a location or funding in place, building a new downtown library is, for now, a distant plan.

It is not one of the 10 pillars identified by the 2015 Vision Group, a group of civic and business leaders that has identified priorities and begun raising private money to help finance Lincoln’s future.

That private group’s downtown development committee is mostly looking at things such as retail and transportation improvements.

But Kirkpatrick, who, in addition to sitting on the library board, is involved with both the 2015 Vision Group and its downtown subcommittee, thinks a new library would be a good fit with that group’s ideas.

“I hope the energy that is being generated by 2015 would help us,” he said. “It could drum up the public support we’d need.”

Though, he added, “I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying (a new library) is key until the city says they’re ready to move forward.”

A new downtown library is included in the city’s long-range Capital Improvement Plan but that does not mean it has any priority.

“When you’ve gone through the (city) budget cycle that we’ve gone through, to build a new library, that’s a hard thing to say,” Kirkpatrick said.

“It would be easier to dream if the sales tax revenues were up.”

A major donation also could get things rolling, he said.

“It’s really a question of timing because it’s not a decision the library board can make; it’s a city and community decision.”

Reach Kendra Waltke at (402) 473-7303 or kwaltke@journalstar.com.