Approved by Unanimous Vote by Menlo Park Library Commission on October 20, 2025

Library Commission Report to City Council

2024-25 Work Plan and Recommendation for 2025-26

Introduction

The primary focus of the Library Commission over the last year has been on these two City Council approved Work Plan goals:

Goal #2: "Review library programs and services, identify potential service gaps for specific age groups or affinity groups, and advise to fill needs to create the 'library of the future.'"

Goal #4: "Analyze and evaluate whether and how potential near term capital improvements to the 800 Alma St. facility may be addressed."

This report includes details of the work completed to date in furtherance of these goals and identifies specific issues that the Library Commission recommends that the City Council review and consider.

RECOMMENDATION: Based on the background and issues detailed in this report, the Library Commission recommends that the City Council schedule a Study Session dedicated solely to the Library.

A City Council Study Session could review and consider the following issues:

  1. Evaluate whether the current organizational structure in which the Library exists as a division of the "Library and Community Services Department" is the best organizational structure to effectively finance, operate and manage the Library;
  2. Evaluate whether the budget and staffing of the Library is adequate to meet the current and projected needs of the community;
  3. Consider possible improvements to programs and services offered by the Library;
  4. Analyze deficits in the 800 Alma Street facility and the viability of near term (within 1-2 years) improvements; and
  5. Assess viability of longer term (3-6 years) improvements to the 800 Alma Street facility, specifically whether a Master Plan for capital improvements at the Civic Center campus could include a new Library facility on the Civic Center campus. Feasibility, financing options and timing could be part of this assessment.

Background

During 2024-25, a Subcommittee of the Library Commission completed the following:1

  • Conducted focus groups with and collected surveys from two Library affinity groups (Friends of the Menlo Park Library and the Menlo Park Library Foundation) and collected surveys from the Teen Advisory Group and Youth Action Committee members;2
  • Reviewed and analyzed over 1100 survey responses received in response to the Spring 2025 survey of Menlo Park residents conducted by Library and Community Services staff;3
  • Consulted with four City Council members, including with Jennifer Wise (current City Council liaison to the Library Commission);
  • With the assistance of Rose Waldman, Library and Community Services Supervisor, completed a benchmark comparison of the Menlo Park Library system to other comparable libraries within the United States with similar demographics;4
  • Consulted with Library Staff members including Nick Szegda, Rose Waldman, and others;
  • Visited 7 local libraries and interviewed their staff;5
  • Conducted a literature review on needed elements for a "Library of the Future";6 and
  • Reviewed the history of Menlo Park's significant investment in studying the Menlo Park Library between 2014-2019.7 The study was called the "Library System Improvement Project" (LSIP), which concluded that the old Belle Haven Branch and the Main Library facilities "are outdated and insufficient to meet community needs now and into the future and should be replaced with new facilities."8

During its 2024-25 term the full Library Commission was updated monthly as this work progressed, and the full Commission engaged in a study session on this report at its August 20, 2025 meeting and engaged in further discussion and ratification at its October 20, 2025 meeting.

Basis for Recommendation that City Council Schedule a Study Session on the Library

All five of the issues identified and detailed below are made with the assumption that libraries are civic institutions that perform critical functions extending far beyond books. They are indispensable community hubs that bring people together and close the opportunity gap by connecting people to essential services and resources."9

ISSUE #1: Evaluate whether the current organizational structure in which the Library exists as a division of the "Library and Community Services Department" is the best organizational structure to effectively finance, operate and manage the Library.

The current organizational structure of having the Library subsumed within a larger Department10 replaced the long-time organizational structure11 of having a Library Director and separate Department. However, the current organizational structure should be evaluated now because it:

  • was adopted in 2020 in response to the pandemic for reasons that may no longer exist12 and further, was adopted before the new Belle Haven branch was built and opened in 2024;
  • makes analysis of Library budget, financial and operational decisions more difficult and less transparent to the community; and
  • differs from other local libraries visited, each of which has a Library Director focused solely on Library services.13

ISSUE #2: Evaluate whether the budget and staffing of the Library is adequate to meet the current and projected needs of the community.

Comparison of the budget for Menlo Park's two locations (the Main Library and the Belle Haven branch) offers sharp contrasts with other local libraries and comparable libraries in other areas.14

For example, Burlingame is a local city with similar demographics to Menlo Park. Both cities have 2 locations (a main library and a branch library), but funding for the Burlingame Library is $6.8 million, compared to $3.3 million for Menlo Park. Staff (Full-time equivalent, or FTE) in Burlingame is 23, compared to 11 for Menlo Park.15 Funding for the Menlo Park Library is less than all local peer libraries visited except Los Gatos, which has only one main library (and which has 13.5 FTE compared to 11 for Menlo Park).

Looking more broadly at comparable libraries around the country, as of 2022 the Menlo Park Library budget was 67% of the peer group median as reported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.16 Yet, the Menlo Park Library operates in one of the highest cost of living cities in the USA.

ISSUE #3: Consider possible improvements to programs and services offered by the Library.

Survey results, focus groups and discussions with Library Staff resulted in a variety of program and services shortcomings that could be addressed, but only with additional funding to staff these services and programs. These possibilities could be analyzed for feasibility:

  • How to support Staff in assisting the needs of unhoused patrons, patrons with mental health issues, and patrons experiencing substance abuse issues;
  • How to support patrons needing to learn English as a second language (ESL); and
  • Consider additional staffing to:
    • Relieve workload pressure on existing Staff;
    • Add programs/events;
    • Add Volunteer Coordinator; and
    • Add Tutoring/Homework Center/ESL Coordinator.

ISSUE #4: Analyze deficits in the 800 Alma Street facility and the viability of near-term improvements (within 1-2 years).

The Main Library was built in 1957. It was remodeled and additions added in 1967 and 1991. In 2009 the Children's Room was remodeled, and in 2012 some modifications were made to the lobby and self-check-in area.17 The 33,000 square foot building has not had major renovations in over 35 years.

Recent survey results demonstrate that the Menlo Park Main Library is the most visited indoor location of all Menlo Park facilities.18 Free text responses to the survey overwhelmingly favored renovation, upgrades, and/or improved maintenance.19

Numerous survey and focus group comments and input from Staff revealed the need for:

  • upgrade or replacement of HVAC;
  • renovated and/or additional restrooms;
  • replacement flooring or carpeting;
  • replacement furniture that is movable, cleanable, durable, comfortable;
  • rearrangement/realignment of floorplan/spaces to allow for quiet areas; and
  • reservable meeting rooms and a large community meeting space.

ISSUE #5: Assess viability of longer term (3-6 years) improvements to the 800 Alma Street facility, specifically whether a Master Plan for capital improvements at the Civic Center campus could include a new Library facility on the Civic Center campus.

Feasibility, financing options and timing could be part of this assessment.

Although clearly the Main Library facility is "outdated and insufficient to meet community needs now and into the future and should be replaced with new facilities,"20 it is also apparent that under the current fiscal environment, designing and building a new Main Library is not realistic in the near-term. However, the Library Commission requests that the City Council use a Study Session to begin preliminary work to understand how the Main Library fits within long-term plans for the Civic Center campus.

Conclusion

Based on the background and issues detailed in this report, the Library Commission recommends that the City Council schedule a Study Session dedicated solely to the Library.

Notes & References

  1. Creation of a Subcommittee "Library of the Future" was approved at the August 19, 2024 Library Commission meeting. Initial members were Brian Westcott, Kim Crockett and Michael Herrick. On May 1, 2025, Carol Orton was substituted as a Subcommittee member, and Michael Herrick instead assumed the role as chair of the Library Commission.
  2. See Summaries of Surveys in LC 8-18-2025 packet, pages 11-13.
  3. Preliminary Results: Library, recreation and parks survey May 28, 2025.
  4. See IMLS Comparison document in LC 8-18-2025 packet and https://librarybenchmark.org.
  5. Visits included libraries in Hayward, Redwood City, Half Moon Bay, South San Francisco, Burlingame, Palo Alto, and Los Gatos.
  6. Staff Report LC-2025-034 "Current and future trends in libraries-professional association and academic publication resources" (July 21, 2025 Agenda Packet).
  7. This project was funded in the City's FY 2014-15 Capital Improvement Program with a budget of $130,000 ($90,000 of which was contributed by the MP Library Foundation) This amount was increased to $164,210 for completion in FY 2016-17.
  8. Staff Report 19-001-CC dated January 15, 2019, PDF pages 98-103 of City Council Agenda Item H-1.
  9. "The Value of California's Public Libraries" (CA Library State Library) and "The Complicated Role of the Modern Public Library" (NEH).
  10. Currently, the Library and Community Services Department (headed by Sean Reinhart) includes Libraries, Recreation, Gymnastics, Sports, Aquatics, Early Childhood Education, After School Childcare, Senior Programs, Belle Haven Community Campus, and Parks.
  11. Susan Holmer was the Menlo Park Library Director for 16 years until she retired in October 2018. Sean Reinhart was appointed Interim Library Director in October 2018, then promoted to permanent Library Director in April 2019.
  12. See Staff Report 20-006-LC: 20-003-PRC, Agenda Item E-1, PDF pages 11-13. The department merger was implemented to maximize opportunities for operational efficiency and provide for the most robust services possible given the available resources.
  13. Other municipalities apparently have a combined library and recreation department, including Sunnyvale, Pleasanton, San Rafael, San Marino and others. However, none of the local libraries the subcommittee visited have this organizational structure.
  14. Also notable is that there was no appreciable increase in the budget or staffing after the Belle Haven Library branch was opened in the new Belle Haven Community Center. The new branch has significantly more amenities and operating hours than the previous school location.
  15. See Library Comparison Table in LC 8-18-2025 packet, page 44 and City of Burlingame (page 113) and City of Menlo Park 2024-25 Fiscal Year budgets.
  16. See IMLS Comparison document in LC 8-18-2025 packet, pages 39-43.
  17. Staff Report 17-066-CC to City Council 3/28/2017, PDF pages 7-102 of City Council Agenda Item G-1.
  18. "Preliminary Results: Library, recreation and parks survey May 28, 2025." 85% of respondents visit multiple times a year or more.
  19. See Ashley Walker presentation "Department Updates - Survey results: Library Focus" presented at July 21, 2025 Library Commission meeting.
  20. Staff Report 19-001-CC dated January 15, 2019, PDF pages 98-103 of City Council Agenda Item H-1.