A History of the Library
In 1993, three committees were formed to advise the Beaverton city council about where to put the new Beaverton library, how to pay for the new library, and the design of the library. More than one hundred citizens served on the committees. In 1998, nearly 65% of Beaverton citizens voted to spend $21.9 million on building a new library designed by Portland architect Thomas Hacker, and built by J.E. Dunn, to replace the adapted 19 thousand-square-foot grocery store where the library had been since 1984. Soon they realized that a newer computer network would have to be installed and the cost would be $250,000 but it was approved by the city council. In 1999 an average of 3055 items were checked out, but on September 11th 2000 (the first day that you could check out items at the new library) 4355 items were checked out, an increase of 42.6%