Library Retrofit, Renovation and Expansion

We have some exciting progress to share about our long-awaited library renovation. On May 27, 2025, the City Council approved the issuance of a $40 million municipal bond, $30 million of which is designated for the library renovation, with the remainder going toward the Swim Center. Like a mortgage, these bonds will be paid off over 20 or 30 years, allowing the city to responsibly finance these major investments. When combined with existing grant and Measure J funds totaling $15 million, this funding brings us closer to realizing our vision.

We expect to receive construction bid results in early June, which will give us a clearer picture of final costs and what is needed to bring the project across the finish line.

In the meantime, we are preparing for our temporary relocation. We’re finalizing lease agreements for a temporary storefront library, storage, and office space. We hope to announce the locations very soon. Keep an eye on the City Council agendas for June 11 or June 25 for updates on library-related leases.

There has been some community chatter recently with some wondering if the JC Frey Building might be cut from the renovation if construction costs run high. Before jumping to conclusions, let’s talk about what this building is and why it matters.

First: How do you pronounce it? It is “Frey” like fry, as in French fry, not “fray.” The building is not connected to the well-known architect Albert Frey, but rather to Dr. R.G. Frey and the Junior Chamber of Commerce (the Jaycees). In fact, Dr. Frey generously donated $10,000 toward the construction of this building at 1911 E. Baristo Road in the 1960s. If you are curious, here is a great archived article about its history: https://tinyurl.com/ynfusz7z. The article comes from our own Desert Sun archive housed at the California Digital Newspaper Collection.

Fun fact: Dr. Frey loved playing bridge, and the building once hosted numerous tournaments and community gatherings.

As part of our updated Main Library design, we are expanding services and amenities but not our footprint. That means we need to relocate some essential services to the JC Frey Building in order to make space. A few highlights of what is new in the Main Library include a larger Children’s Room, expanded public restrooms, a new Community Room with double the current seating capacity (up to 180 people), and four new small-group study rooms. To make room for these enhancements, we plan to relocate the Local History Archive and the Friends of the Library workspace, office, and donation center to the JC Frey Building.

Community input consistently emphasized the importance of local history and cultural resources. We are committed to giving the archive the space it deserves to grow, be preserved, and be more accessible to researchers and the public.

The Friends of the Library are also vital to our success, contributing between $90,000 and $200,000 annually through daily book sales and fundraising efforts. They rely on adequate space to sort, organize, and prepare the thousands of donated materials that support our book sale room and other initiatives.

If construction costs exceed our budget and the JC Frey Building renovation is eliminated, it will not be a simple cost-saving measure. Redesigning the Main Library to house these displaced services would be expensive and would force difficult choices about which services to scale back or eliminate entirely.

Our community deserves better. We are staying hopeful that construction bids will be within budget. But if not, our Palm Springs Public Library Foundation is ready to step up, and we invite the community to join us.

If you or someone you know values the library’s services, especially local history, community spaces, or children’s programming, we encourage you to consider a gift or naming opportunity to support this project.

Reach out to our Library Foundation President, Bill Wylie, at bwylie@pslibraryfoundation.org or Foundation Executive Director Peter Pearson, at ppearson@pslibraryfoundation.org to learn more about charitable gifts or legacy opportunities. It’s never too early to invest in the future of your library.

Behind the scenes, exciting progress is underway. Our building plans are complete, and City Council has officially authorized us to move forward with soliciting bids from contractors.

You can follow our journey here on the city’s project website, Engage Palm Springs, where you will find updates and a tentative project schedule. (And we do mean tentative—many factors, such as high bids or supply chain delays, could impact our timeline.)

For now, we are still right here at the Main Library. Based on the current project timeline, we expect to remain in our familiar building throughout our Summer Reading Program. You will not miss a moment of the fun—Summer Reading kicks off June 9, 2025, and we are planning activities all the way through to our Grand Finale.

Save the date for Saturday, July 19, 2025—we are hosting a big Summer Reading celebration that we expect will also serve as our Library farewell party. Stay tuned for more details—we look forward to celebrating with you!

City staff and our architects are working diligently to finalize construction documents for our library project. Once complete, we will present the full package to City Council. If everything stays on track, we anticipate going before City Council in late April or early May. At that meeting, we will present the project, hold a public hearing on the bond funds, and request authorization to begin the bidding process for construction contractors.

This project has been a long time coming, and while the planning phase can feel slow, it is critical to ensuring a smoother construction process with fewer unexpected surprises or costly change orders.

Meanwhile, our library staff is preparing for the transition to a temporary location. Since we cannot take our entire collection with us, we must determine how many books and media items will fit in the new space (final location still to be determined) and how best to store the rest during construction.

Did you know math plays a big role in library logistics? For example, an average library shelf holds about 25 books or 50 DVDs. To prepare for storage, we calculated the weight of different book types in batches of 25. The results were eye-opening! While we weighed a variety of book categories, including children's books, adult fiction, and graphic novels, the heaviest by far were the Yellow Pages and yearbooks. Twenty-five Yellow Pages weighed about 55 pounds, while 25 yearbooks tipped the scale at a whopping 74 pounds. For reference, the large-print books shown in the image weigh 36.5 pounds per 25 copies.

So, next time you check out a stack of library books, remember—books are made of paper, paper comes from wood, and wood is heavy! Be sure to lift with your legs!

On January 11, 2024 the City Council heard public comments and received 10 written comments in support of agenda item 3C to APPROVE SCOPE OF WORK FOR PALM SPRINGS PUBLIC LIBRARY RENOVATION PROJECTS 16-08, MAIN LIBRARY RENOVATIONS, AND 19-18, JC FREY BUILDING REHABILITATION AND PROVIDE DIRECTION FOR ISSUANCE OF DEBT SERVICE.

BACKGROUND: On September 14, 2023, City Council approved Professional Services Agreement No. 23Q183 with Group 4 Architecture, Research + Planning, Inc. for Phase 1 architectural and design services for an amount not to exceed $1,838,898. Based on this agreement, Group 4 Architecture, Research + Planning, Inc. was to provide architectural design services for the grant-funded portion of the Main Library and architectural design work on the JC Frey Building. Group 4 Architecture, Research + Planning, Inc. was to conduct programming and estimating services for all the non-grant funded work under Agreement No. 23Q183. It was expected that Group 4 Architecture, Research + Planning, Inc. would return with a recommended Scope of Work and cost estimate for the non-grant-funded portion of the project for Council to approve.

ANALYSIS: Since approval of Professional Services Agreement No. 23Q183, Group 4 Architecture, Research + Planning, Inc. has gathered data from Library and City Engineering staff, conducted community input sessions, conducted a community survey, and engaged engineers and other specialty architects for site visits and data gathering. They have held multiple project management team meetings, technical meetings with Library staff, and steering committee meetings with stakeholder group representatives from the city, Library Board of Trustees, Friends of the Palm Springs Library, and Palm Springs Public Library Foundation. Over 1,000 people participated in the community input sessions and survey.

As a result of these meetings and project cost estimates, staff and stakeholder groups recommend completing all aspects of the Main Library building renovation and the JC Frey Building renovation, while holding the Event Center project for a future phase. The Main Library renovation would include both grant-funded tasks and non-grant funded tasks as presented in the Scope of Work. See the PowerPoint presentation presented by Group 4 to City Council in the DOCUMENTS folder