“It’s really wonderful to have this money. It has no strings attached,” said Annie Malley, branch manager for the Half Moon Bay Library. “But it’s still a big chunk of money that we’d need to raise … We have to look now where we can get other funds.”
The money is not in hand yet and still requires congressional approval. U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo included money for the Half Moon Bay Library in the 2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill. Eshoo originally requested $1 million and then scaled that down to $200,000 in the final version of the bill, which has been approved by the House. A vote on the Senate version of the legislation is expected in September.
  
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“It’s a balance. Do we want a children’s program or do you want 20 people to use the room to look for jobs?” Malley said. “The little space we have is really overtaxed.”
Malley says she hopes to build a new expansion to the library that could double its size — a proposition that likely would cost millions. Raising that money will mean searching for new funding sources and any other opportunities to work with local organizations, she said.
For years, library officials have pointed out that the Half Moon Bay branch is among the most overburdened libraries in the state. Opening in 1971, the library was originally built to serve only the Half Moon Bay population, which hovered around 5,000 people.
At that time, both El Granada and Pescadero had their own county-run libraries to serve their neighborhoods. But as years passed, both of those libraries were closed, leaving only the Half Moon Bay library to cover the growing Coastside and its 29,000 residents scattered between Montara down past Pescadero.
The overuse of the library is really starting to show, Malley said. In its first year, the library checked out about 28,000 items. For 2009, that number has skyrocketed to more than 444,000 checkouts. But the facility is basically the same as when it first opened, even though the inventory of books has more than quadrupled.
Local library enthusiasts were originally hoping to get a large state grant that would have funded a project to build an entirely new library. That money remains a possibility, Malley said, but so far it appears that state funding is going to the city of San Diego.
“We’d love a new library, but it looks like instead we might be getting a renovated library,” said Greta McElroy-White, board member for the Friends of the Half Moon Bay Library. “Now that we have this $200,000 start, we have to decide what steps 2 through 10 might be.”
Library officials and volunteers are interested in hearing any ideas from the community on fundraising or how the Half Moon Bay Library should be renovated. Anyone with input is encouraged to contact Malley at malley@smcl.org or attend the Friends of the Library during their next meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 24 at the Cañada Cove meeting room.
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