Imagine the potential synergy of three different entities coming together to create something greater than their sum.
That is the vision behind the Mid-County Library Joint Use Facility conceptual study, which would connect Clayton High School, the Center of Clayton and the Mid-County Library in collaboration between the School District of Clayton, the City of Clayton and the St. Louis County Library (SLCL) to greater serve the members of the community and CHS.

The idea of a joint use library connected to both CHS and the Center was inspired by the success of the Center.  Today, CHS students and members of the community are often found working out next to one another in the Center, since they share the joint use facility.  Following the completion of the Center, some discussion began between the School District, the City of Clayton, and the SLCL concerning the benefits of adding the Mid-County Library to this unique connected facility in the future.
“The same synergy that happened when the school district and the city put together a community center, something that neither governmental entity could have done alone,” said Don Senti, Clayton School District Superintendent.  “And we actually proved through that, that governments can work together.”
Consequently, Senti believes that a similar synergy and collaboration to that of the Center would be necessary for the Mid-County Library Joint Use Facility, but furthermore, the benefits of such a synergy would be tremendous.
Craig Owens, the City Manager for the City of Clayton, explained how the library is an important aspect of the community where people can read, learn and gather together.  Owens said the joint use library would be a national model library that would have multigenerational use between members of the community and CHS, in addition to a high level of service and resources for Clayton residents and students.
“[The library] would be situated in a geographic position in the community center combination high school plan, so that it would be very convenient to the community center, and the Center of Clayton, and it would also be very accessible to the high school classrooms,” said Ted Christner, the Chairman Emeritus of Christner Inc., the architectural firm which presented the designs of the conceptual study. “[Our] goal was to allow all of the resources in that library to be available to all generations but to have it configured and managed in a way that the individual generations could kind of have a place of their own.”
The proposed three-story library would be located on the northwestern corner of the CHS campus at the southern end of the Center of Clayton.  It would be connected to the Center on the second floor near the running track and there would be a bridge on the third floor connecting it to the future addition of CHS.  The third floor of the library would be specifically for CHS students both before and during the school day.
“Pretty much everyone thinks it is a good idea… it seems like it would be in everybody’s best interest,” Senti said.  “It would give us a better library, a bigger library, and a library that is accessible for our [students’] expanded hours.”
The third floor of the library would accommodate the high school collection and include tables and study rooms for the use of the students.  In addition, the CHS floor of the library would have a few classrooms and computer labs as well as a video production studio.
“[CHS] would get a world class library, a library that is light-years ahead of other libraries,” said Tim Wadham, the Assistant Director of Youth and Community Services for the SLCL.
In addition, students would have free access to the materials of the Mid-County Library, including their general collection, located on the second floor.
“I think our program would improve because we would have more access to resources….  I think they have a really wonderful collection that we could certainly benefit from… and also they have a huge number of databases compared to us,” said Victoria Jones, the Head Librarian of the School District of Clayton.
Unlike the CHS library today, the joint use library would also be open to students during all of its regular operating hours.
“I think it sounds fantastic in a lot of ways because it would just open up the doors to more resources for our students,” said Lauran DeRigne, the Head Librarian of the library at CHS.  “It would allow access for students after school, which would be fantastic. Basically kids could stay until 9 p.m. a lot of nights to work on their schoolwork.”
The library would benefit not only students but also many members of the community through its connection with the Center, who could utilize both facilities.
“I think it would be nice for people to be able to combine what they do,” said Patty DeForrest, the Director of Clayton Parks and Recreation.  “[The library] could draw people to a library who might only come here to see the fitness center, so they may use both because they are at one place, and that’s kind of convenient and nice for them.”
DeForrest explained how she would love to walk on over to the library and pick up a book during her breaks.
“Community Center is really the [term] that comes to mind when you think of this combination, that it becomes a center of the city,” Christner said.  “The athletic facilities, art and music, theatre [and] the library: all of those things really create a synergy…. So, if you look at all of those things and the benefits, it becomes in our opinion a really positive kind of philosophy to bring all of these facilities together.”
Christner, who helped design the Center of Clayton, believes that the joint use library would further develop this community center, as it would attract more members of the community from every different age group, from CHS students to both young and old members of the community.
The proposed library would include a café, computer classrooms, a gallery space and an auditorium, in addition to the general collection and a children’s library.  The auditorium would give the Mid-County Library the opportunity to host authors and other speakers with a large audience.  Also, the auditorium could host other venues including CHS plays along with other productions of the Metro Theatre Company.  In addition, the gallery space could host collections of local artists or CHS students.
“It just seemed a really cool thing to have a space for the arts as well as a library,” Wadham said.  “I’ve always felt that libraries are art institutions, combining literature with all the other arts.”
With its unique connections to other facilities, countless resources and new facilities, Wadham hopes the library would become a regional center.
“The perfect vision would be for this to become a regional arts destination,” Wadham said.
The proposed library would be built and paid for by SLCL through a future bond issue, probably in 2011. However, Wadham said there are still some obstacles that must be resolved before they go to voters in a little more than a year.
Under the proposition, the library would be built on the CHS campus, with the School District agreeing to practically donate the land to the Mid-County Library in exchange for the CHS student floor of the library.
“Since we own the land, they would build the library and then for a nominal, maybe nothing, exchange for the land, we would get a free floor of the library for the high school’s use,” Senti said.
However, with CHS, the Center and the library all on the same site, there is concern over whether there would be too much activity at the location.
“For people to be able to come here to this site, work out and go check out a book or go online over at the library, I think that was kind of always the vision that there would be a lot of activity over here,” DeForrest said.  “I think the challenge is figuring how to fit all that activity on the site.  Some things will have to be adapted.”
DeForrest explained how there has also been parking issues around CHS and the Center as students and Center members struggle to find parking spots.
As a result, if the new library were built, there would be a significant lack in parking spaces.  However, the conceptual study presented the idea of possibly expanding the parking lot west, parallel to the Center’s competition pool, to make room for approximately 80 more spaces, where the mulch pile is currently located.  According to the study, if the City contributed the mulch pile for parking, then they would not have to pay for any portion of the construction costs of the library.
“If they need parking, that is obviously the most convenient place to park,” Owens said.
However, Owens said that finding a replacement location for the mulch pile in Clayton would be difficult.
“The biggest obstacle in my mind is the mulch pile,” said Wadham, who believes that those additional parking spaces would be vital for the success of the library.
Despite this and other obstacles, Owens emphasized that he has “every confidence” that three different public entities will be able to overcome and make this vision into a reality.