| Gresham Library | |
| Map Type: | USA Oregon Gresham |
| Owner: | Multnomah County Library |
| Location: | Gresham, Oregon |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Coordinates: | 45.5°N -122.4331°W |
| Opened Date: | January 9, 1990 |
| Floor Area: | 20000ft2 |
| Architecture Firm: | SERA Architects |
| Main Contractor: | Todd Construction |
| Ren Architect: | Thomas Hacker and Associates |
| Ren Firm: | Andersen Construction Company |
| Website: | Gresham Library |
The Gresham Library, also known as the Gresham Regional Library, is a branch of the Multnomah County Library in Gresham in the U.S. state of Oregon.[1] The branch offers the Multnomah County Library catalog of two million books, periodicals and other materials.[1]
The building occupied by the library was constructed in 1989 and opened in January 1990.[2] It replaced a 1913 Tudor style building at 410 N. Main Street, which had been a Carnegie library.[3] The new building was paid for by a $2.1 million fund-raising campaign designed in part by then-Governor Neil Goldschmidt, including $1.7 million serial levy approved by Multnomah County voters in 1987 and a projected $200,000 from the sale of the original building.[4] Following the levy, three attempts to buy suitable property that could be developed within the $1.7 million approved had failed by mid-1988, leading to the consideration of several more expensive options.[5]
The new building is 13 times the size of the original library, and was designed as a "superbranch" to "usher in a new era in library services in both Gresham and the entire county system." Upgrades included a computer lab/media center, a community room, a teen study area, a children's room, a conference room, skylights, and a tower to help it blend in with the surrounding shopping center.
With space for 75,000 volumes, the 20000ft2 library building was designed as the Multnomah County system's second-largest, behind Portland's Central Library. The original library building was purchased by the Gresham Historical Society, which turned it into a museum as well as housing its main headquarters there.[3]