PORTLAND, Ore.--January 6, 2025
Multnomah County Library is excited to announce the grand opening of North Portland Library on February 8, 2025. North Portland is an expanded, modern space, built to reflect its diverse surrounding communities.
Multnomah County Library is transforming library spaces as part of a November 2020 capital bond. As a result, the library has renovated and expanded North Portland Library, updating the historic Carnegie building and adding 1,500 square feet for a total of 10,200 square feet of space on the existing site for this approximately $13 million project.
Celebrating North Portland with the community
North Portland Library has long been the library home to the Black community in Portland. To recognize its role as a diverse, beloved location, all of the updates are the result of extensive community and staff engagement, with features for the community to enjoy. Additionally, gifts to The Library Foundation supported the creation of an interactive early learning space and a mobile creative learning lab at North Portland Library.
To celebrate the opening of the updated, expanded North Portland, the library is hosting two, fun-filled days of activities for the community on Saturday, February 8 and Sunday, February 9. Featuring a performance by the Jefferson Dancers, food from local Black-owned businesses and more, there will be plenty to do while exploring the new features of North Portland Library. Patrons can stay up-to-date on the library website.
Advance press tour of North Portland Library
**Due to the level of activity expected for the opening events, members of the media are invited to tour the renovation and expansion early on Wednesday, February 5 at 11 am. The press tour will meet outside the main entrance on Killingsworth. At this time, the media can get photos of the completed building, explore new features and learn about the increased space, public art and more at North Portland. **
View of North Portland Library from Killingsworth; rendering courtesy of LEVER Architecture
New features include:
- A Black Cultural Center for connection and a celebration of Blackness.
- An early learning and play space for children and their families.
- A large community room for meetings and library programs.
- Updated wi-fi and technology, including more laptops, iPads and creative software for patron use.
- A new Automated Materials Handling system, ensuring materials get to patrons much faster.
- Modern self-checkout stations to provide a better patron experience.
- A new outdoor deck for community members to relax and connect.
- New art that represents the community in partnership with the Regional Arts and Culture Council, including:
- Art glass panels in the Black Cultural Center based on an original painting by Sadé DuBoise featuring Ghanaian Adinkra symbols
- Wood carvings by Melanie Stevens which highlight four Black afrofuturist authors: Sun Ra; W.E.B. Du Bois; Octavia Butler; and Zora Neale Hurston
Centering the community
The historic North Portland Library has been a cornerstone of the community, and specifically the Black community, for so long. To amplify the community’s ideas, the library worked with the design team to host focus groups, online public meetings, one-on-one meetings with community members and public surveys. We engaged over 3,500 people during more than 65 activities. Community members cast more than 1,200 votes for North Portland’s interior color scheme, with the winning theme being deep blue colors inspired by afrofuturism.
Additionally, 27 teens across three cohorts took part in the Youth Opportunity Design Approach (YODA), a paid community program for teens. In sessions led by the project architects and youth librarians, teens who use North Portland Library shared what will make them feel welcome and engaged.
To gather broader community input, the design team convened paid affinity focus groups with community members who are a part of Black and African American communities; Indigenous communities; immigrants and refugees; disability communities; and Latino communities.
North Portland Library’s Black Cultural Center; rendering courtesy of LEVER Architecture
A new Black Cultural Center
North Portland’s Black Cultural Center is extra special: not only is it guided by community input, but it’s the first space of its kind in the entire Multnomah County Library system. The Black Cultural Center is for the Black community in North Portland and beyond, providing approximately 900 square feet for connection and cultural events. The design was guided by staff and community input and features interior furniture by Black designers Ini Archibong and Mac Collins as well as new art from local Black artists in collaboration with the Regional Arts and Culture Council. The Center also connects to a beautiful new outdoor deck, providing a place for patrons to enjoy the outdoors at the library.
Learning and playing in the kids area
North Portland Library is continuing the commitment to early learning and development with a kids area for learning and play. This area has unique furniture developed in tandem with the design team and the Burgeon Group, the premier firm designing, building, and installing creative early learning spaces in public libraries. Wild geometric shapes reach to the sky with dozens of interactive pieces to encourage reading, talking, writing, playing and singing.
Places for connection
People can connect much easier at North Portland Library with updated and expanded spaces. This includes the large community room which can be reserved as a meeting room during the day and after hours.
To increase connection, the technology team has equipped the following rooms in North Portland with new audio/visual (A/V) equipment:
- Black Cultural Center
- Large community room
With more A/V-equipped spaces, the building can accommodate advanced technology needs and collaboration. Need to host a presentation in the large community room? North Portland has you covered with state-of-the-art audio and video conferencing when connected to a library-supplied laptop.
Additionally, both the large community room and Black Cultural Center are even more accessible thanks to assistive listening systems (ALS) which amplify sounds from lectures, presentations, storytimes and events, allowing hard-of-hearing patrons to fully engage with library programs and resources. North Portland offers assisted listening systems via two different methods: a hearing loop built into the flooring of the large community room and a portable offering which includes a microphone for the speaker and a listening device for the audience.
North Portland is yet another library location to introduce Multnomah County’s new fiber network, providing increased internet speeds and bandwidth. The building boasts a strong wi-fi signal throughout the interior and along the exterior perimeter.
Artwork for all
As part of these building projects, each major location gains engaging new artwork thanks to the Multnomah County Percent for Art Program, which is led by the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC). RACC advocates for equity, inclusion and access within the arts and connects artists and creatives to opportunities throughout the region.
Artist Sadé DuBoise created a site-specific, artist-designed glass wall which creates a backdrop for the west side of the new Black Cultural Center. This permanent glass artwork, measuring 12 ft. high and 16 ft. wide, is based on an original painting Sadé created, grounded in her North Portland upbringing and influenced by North Portland Library community engagement events. Sadé hosted two visioning sessions to welcome the community into the process of developing her artwork, part of which resulted in the inclusion of Adinkra symbols which are Ghanaian symbols that represent concepts, proverbs and aphorisms.
Additionally, artist Melanie Stevens created a site-specific wooden relief sculpture surrounding the interior sill of the Black Cultural Center window facing North Commercial Ave. The artwork builds upon Melanie’s practice of printmaking and graphic novel works that explore the powerful legacy of Black narrative and cultural reclamation. For North Portland Library, this includes four portraits of Afrofuturism's forebears: Octavia E. Butler, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston and Sun Ra.
Artist Kayin Talton Davis worked with the design team to develop a stairwell mural providing an engaging entryway to the Black Cultural Center and the upstairs Community Room. The mural, "There is Joy," highlights Black community in North Portland through archival images reflecting moments of celebration, recreation, steadfastness and connection. The Afrofuturistic piece includes reflective gold areas, bringing the observer in and offering a different experience for each viewer.
Returning to North Portland Library is Charlotte Lewis’ “Isis,”a fabric mural that was featured in the Portland Art Museum’s showcase of Black artists of Oregon while North Portland was under construction. The artwork is now located outside the Large Community Room on the second floor, providing a more accessible way to view the piece from its original location (pre-construction) along the staircase.
North Portland Library’s reading room; rendering courtesy of LEVER Architecture
A resilient building
LEVER Architecture and Noll & Tam Architects led the design for North Portland. Andersen Construction is the General Contractor. North Portland Library is on track to be LEED Gold certified, one of the highest levels of energy efficiency awarded to buildings and a County standard. North Portland reduced its impact on the environment by reusing much of the existing building structure and facades. The building also boasts a seismic upgrade, highly-efficient new mechanical and plumbing systems, as well as low-emitting materials which contribute to improved indoor air quality.
Multnomah County Library is excited to present this transformed North Portland Library to the community.
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About Multnomah County Library
A treasured community institution since 1864, Multnomah County Library is one of the nation’s busiest public library systems, providing social, educational and cultural programs, resources and services, online and through its 19 public locations. With an eye toward the future of community-centered spaces, the library is working to build, rebuild or expand nine libraries through a voter approved capital bond. In addition to being Oregon’s largest provider of free internet access, the library offers millions of print and digital resources, in multiple languages for people of all ages. From kindergarten readiness to job training, computer-assisted design and 3D printing, the library supports all people in their pursuits to connect, learn and create. Learn more at multcolib.org
For media inquiries related to the Regional Arts and Culture Council, please contact comms@racc.org