LOGAN – A standing-room only crowd of more than 200 city residents turned out on Mar. 4 to enthusiastically greet the grand opening of the new Logan Library.
“This day has been a long time coming,” according to Logan Mayor Holly Daines. “On behalf of the Logan City Council and myself, I’d like to welcome all of you to the new Logan Library.
“We’re delighted to finally open this facility to the public.”
The crowd eagerly queued up to tour the new three-story facility, which has floor-to-ceiling landscape windows all around to give the library a fishbowl-like quality.
In her remarks, Daines explained that the design of the new Logan Library was a collaborative effort between Hacker, a design studio based in Portland, and Logan’s local Design West architects. The innovative design called for a bustling, park-like atmosphere on the structure’s ground floor, an active tone for teens and adults on the second floor and a quiet reserve on the top floor.
During the opening ceremonies, Daines also greeted the generous donors whose gifts helped to fulfill the long-awaited dreams of the city and library staff. When the city’s dreams for the new library exceeded the original $16 million construction budget, Daines said she turned to local philanthropists to help out.
The Hansen Sisters Foundation responded with a $1 million lead gift to complete the Children’s Area on the second floor. For their support, Daines thanked Nora Hansen Peterson, Lara Hansen Huff, Amy Hansen Atkinson, Diana Hansen Ribera, Robin Hansen Haueter, Keri Hansen Hale and, of course, their father Del Loy Hansen.
The Library Plaza and its outdoor sculptures was enriched thanks to the generosity of the Paul and Kim Willie Family Foundation. A gift from the local Cytiva corporation funded the makerspace on the library’s second floor, near its designed teen area.
A makerspace is a fairly recent term of art used to describe a place in which people with shared interests — especially in computing or technology — can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment and knowledge.
Finally, the library’s second floor terrace was supported by a gift from Craig and Maradee Petersen and the third floor terrace was supported by fund-raising by the Friends of the Logan Library group.
Tours continued throughout the day on Mar. 4, but library director Karen Clark explained that the new will facility will operate on reduced hours for the foreseeable future.
“While we get back into the swing of things and learn how our new library will function,” she said, “we will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
“We will eventually extend our hours once we’ve figured things out,” she added. “We appreciate your continued patience during this process.”