Campbell gets $5.2M in grants for new library

Construction of the new Campbell Library is moving forward thanks to more than $5.2 million in grants.

In December the City of Campbell and the Santa Clara County Library District received 4,718,450 in additional funding from the California State Library’s Building Forward Grant Program. The funds will be applied to safety and infrastructure improvements, including the conversion of the entire library into an all-electric facility and the addition of a new emergency generator to provide back-up power to the entire building in the event of a power outage. The grant helps cover escalated construction costs following the pandemic.

Silicon Valley Clean Energy provided $500,000 toward efforts to eliminate natural gas usage in the 24,000-square-foot Campbell Library. These improvements have the potential to reduce long-term maintenance costs while enhancing citywide energy conservation efforts.

Initial funding for the new library came from Measure O, a $50 million bond measure passed in November 2018. The grant money allows part of the original Measure O budget to be redirected to other design elements, including improvements to the overall aesthetics and noise mitigation. Measure O funds are also earmarked for renovations to Campbell’s police station.

The library project will likely go out to bid in late May or early June, with construction planned to begin later in the summer, and will take approximately 20 months to complete.

When the main library closed, its most popular materials and core services moved to the Campbell Express Library at the Campbell Community Center, 1 W. Campbell Ave., room E46.