Library Chief Pushes for New Building

Williams Urges Council to Construct Facility at Old Convention Center Site

When Adrian M. Fenty met with New York officials last week to talk about school reform, he said they casually mentioned with pride their city's improved library system as "another place where we can get some good ideas."

Fenty, expected to become the city's Democratic mayor after the Nov. 7 election, said the District has already taken a page from that book: It lured away the former director of the Brooklyn, N.Y., public library.

"I'm really excited about the hiring of Ginnie Cooper," said Fenty, the Ward 4 council member. "She has a strong reputation. It's a good time to get new dynamic leadership."

Cooper, along with Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), testified yesterday during the third public hearing since legislation was introduced in May to authorize the construction of a new central library at the old convention center site on Ninth Street NW, near the current facility.

The council's Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, led by council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), is weighing the options. Several advocates want to renovate the historic Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St. NW, but the mayor and library officials want to replace it and lease the building.

But Cooper, like the mayor, is clear on what she'd like to see. Cooper said she's been involved in 50 to 60 library building projects in a career spanning three decades, including construction of a library in Alameda County, Calif., and restoration of the central library in Portland, Ore.

"My choice would be to build a new library on the old convention center site," Cooper said in an interview. "We could do some things with less space. This is a humongous building with lots of empty space."

At the hearing, Williams said he wants a state-of-the-art facility in the city's revitalized downtown and called for passage of legislation before his term ends in January.

"The bottom line is that we are at a critical moment where we must act decisively and affirmatively to move forward," Williams said. "Failure to approve the legislation . . . puts at risk the momentum behind our efforts."

Cooper said the mayor's efforts and a vow by the library trustees board to "transform" the system enticed her to the District, which has 27 facilities, several so badly deteriorated that Fenty called it "a shame."

Cooper left her Brooklyn job this summer, 18 months before the end of her five-year contract. She started in mid-July at a salary of $205,000, $13,000 less than her salary in New York but $83,000 more than the District's former executive director, Molly Raphael.

"I've chosen jobs that were challenging because," she paused, "why do the work, if it's not going to be challenging and have a payoff? If I know it's going to be easy, I'd get bored."