Since 1912 Cornelius has had a library that served us as a community well.  Even with its small status, we all can have some kind of a fond memory visiting the library to just see what it can offer. Since the library was so small and slightly outdated though, it was harder and harder to find people wanting to go to the library. However, in early 2013 plans were formed to create an even more magnificent Library for the City of Cornelius in a 2013-2017 funding plan.

The new library would have a fireplace, designated teen and children areas, five small group study rooms, and a huge community room for library activities and council meetings, along with a 5,000 square foot courtyard with an amphitheater for outdoor activities.  The library is 14,000 square feet total, basically tripling the size of the old library. Including all of these truly amazing upgrades, the library has two more floors completely dedicated to housing for the elderly with a total of 45 apartments.

The library expected to have to pay $4.8 million to build this huge project. With lots of support and community though, they raised enough.  They had gained $1 million dollars from Washington County, followed by a $500,000 grant from National Endowment for the Humanities chunking off a few more dollars for the funding to build the library. Then they had gotten a $2.4 million from the Oregon Lottery Plan, plus an additional amount from Susan McClain giving a $500,000 dollars included.  With even more private fundings Cornelius had gained they just needed a $1.6 million boost to get them to the goal of $4.8 million dollars.

Having this new library in the community is truly a huge step up for many reasons.  First of all, we have many more options to choose from catalog wise.  We now have more of a assortment of books and materials for our use, adding more than half of what the first library could give us, tripling in size compared to the original.  Along with a whole new selection of books, the library offers spaces for all people of the community.  They have a teen room with books from popular authors and books for young adults, along with a chair and table sets that resemble a fun 80’s restaurant table and a place to play video games on an Xbox. There is also a whole new kids area with even more space and toys than the last kids’ area including a fun treehouse set, building blocks, and a seating area built into a wall with comfortable pillows creating a very nice lounging area where the kids can read and/or be read to by their parents.  Finally, there is a wide selection of books in Spanish really contributing to our diverse community. This library contains such a wide area of resources it’s just amazing!  

They have a computer station just like the last, but now they also have study computers that are off to the side creating a private space to do online study. Adding more to this study fun, they now have included five private study rooms that can be used for study or just a sweet place to play a board game and chill.  Finally, they have a cafe and a huge conference room that can hold library events and important council meetings.

With this whole new library tripling the size of the old one with multiple improvements with designated areas of study for teens, adults, and a place for children to play and read, along with a much more wide selection of Spanish books, this whole new library will really help with the community and help us come together.