Library branches out to mall, going where the foot traffic is

Sam Morris

This Z Toyz store in the Galleria at Sunset mall will become a Henderson branch library. The city also plans to move its main library to a shopping center.

By Mike Trask (contact)

Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The store in the Galleria at Sunset in Henderson, the one that sells toys just outside of Mervyns, will cease as a retail operation next year.

But the things you’ll be able to borrow will open your eyes to the world.

It’s becoming branch of the Henderson Library.

Libraries are in shopping malls in Seattle; Indianapolis, Ind.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Dayton, Ohio, but this will be a first for Southern Nevada.

Henderson officials cite the same reasons given elsewhere: It’s cheaper than building a branch, there’s more foot traffic than in most other places, and libraries must be appealing.

Library officials say it’s more important to open in a mall than to keep its libraries open on Sundays.

Nine months ago, Henderson closed its four libraries on Sundays to trim $400,000 from its $9.2 million annual budget. Costs continue to rise and revenue has stayed flat for more than a decade, requiring cutbacks.

“There are only so many resources,” he said. “We just have to do the best we can with what we have. If we would have continued on the path (not made some cuts) then we would not have been able to do all this.”

He called the chance to be part of the busy mall an opportunity “too good to pass up.” There are still no plans to reopen on Sundays.

The library branch at the mall will carry mostly popular materials in the 1,350-square-foot store, compared with the 43,000-square-foot Paseo Verde Library on Green Valley Parkway, where more than 169,000 items are available.

Henderson Libraries will get the Galleria spot free for six months, likely beginning in March. Terms have not been set to extend the lease, although mall officials say they will give the library a reduced rate. The library will spend about $25,000 to stock the shelves and remodel the space, said Thomas Fay, executive director of Henderson Libraries.

There are plans to open three more libraries in the next three years. In 2010 Henderson plans to build a $4.5 million library at Lake Mead Crossing, a retail center at Lake Mead Parkway and Water Street, to replace the library near City Hall.

It will also spend $75,000 to open a small branch in the Heritage Senior Center next year.

In January the city will take control of the Clark County Library at Sunset Road and Green Valley Parkway and spend about $500,000 on renovations.

Fay said these expenditures have been planned for years.

The Galleria library’s location — off the main corridor of a shopping mall— has not.

The mall is pleased to have it.

“With the economy we’re not going to be able to find a national retailer to go into what we define as a challenging retail location,” mall General Manager Scott Muelrath said.

Plus, he said, it could be a nice marketing tool for the mall and drive traffic toward the area.

Fay said the biggest benefit of a mall location is exposure.

The era of the little library with aging furniture is over. Today it’s big business with talk about digital signs, self checkouts and marketing strategies. It’s been a major change for Fay, 41, who started working in libraries as a 16-year-old.

Now this change has brought the library into the hub of big business.

Fay figures more people reading can’t be a bad thing.