Expanded to include community and teen rooms and an elevator, the building meets silver certification standards under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. The exterior has gained water conservation-friendly landscaping, a wheelchair-accessible ramp, a front courtyard and a side entrance plaza.
Measure FF, the branch library improvement program, paid for the overhaul with $26 million in bond funds approved by voters in 2008.
A separate fund raising campaign by the Berkeley Public Library Foundation is underway to provide new furnishings, fixtures and equipment – expenses which were not covered by the bond.
Read more at “Newly Renovated North Branch Library Ready for Years of Use, ” March 30, 2012.