“They like to read,” he said. “They grew up in that library, and my son’s a writer now.”
Now, more than 40 years later, Frankovich—former League City mayor and now the library’s board president—said Helen Hall Library at Hwy. 3 and Walker Street is still among the best libraries he has ever visited due to its various programs and welcoming atmosphere.Under librarian Teresa Potter, Helen Hall Library was given the 2021 Achievement of Excellence in Libraries Award—a first-time designation for the library. Additionally, the library in February celebrated a major milestone: its 50th anniversary.
The library’s success does not mean it operates without challenges, however. A burst pipe in 2019 flooded the library’s first floor, and soon after, COVID-19 resulted in fewer people using the library.
Additionally, in 2019, design firms determined the library is too small for the growing city, which is expected to surpass 200,000 residents at build-out in a few decades. City officials are again discussing possibly expanding the library.
“The library is looking to do a bond issue in the future,” Mayor Pat Hallisey said. “I think that’s great.”
Library through the decades
Helen Hall Library, named for the League City resident who pushed for its construction in the late 1960s, opened in 1972 at 7,000 square feet. By August 1988, the library had been expanded to 29,300 square feet.
Today, 34 years later, the library is the same size. At two stories, the library offers programs for everyone from infants to senior citizens along with workforce development programs and events outside the library’s walls.
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Through it all, Frankovich said Helen Hall has set itself apart from other libraries. Even in the 1980s, Helen Hall Library felt different due to it feeling like a friendly, home-like place, he said.
“Even when they were small, they were doing things right,” Frankovich said.
Potter said this culminated in Helen Hall winning the 2021 Achievement of Excellence in Libraries Award—a recognition 59 libraries in the state earned.
The Texas Municipal League award is given to libraries that reach certain benchmarks, help underserved populations, and offer workforce development and summer reading programs, Potter said.
“I think what put us in the upper tier for last year was all of the stuff we were doing in spite of the pandemic,” she said. “We really wanted people to start coming back into the building.”
COVID-19 effects
In late 2019, a burst water pipe flooded part of the library, forcing the library to close for repairs for several months. In early 2020, the library was ready to reopen with its renovations but barely got a chance because the COVID-19 pandemic began, forcing another closure in March 2020, Potter said.
The building remained closed for six weeks, and then the library began offering curbside services. The leak and the onset of the pandemic affected how many people used its services, Potter said.
In 2019, the library checked out more than 608,000 items, which includes everything from books to DVDs and beyond. That number dipped to 437,000 in 2020 but rose to 470,000 in 2021, according to library data.
Likewise, the number of people who used the library dropped 48.3% between 2019-20 from 209,000 to 108,000, but it climbed back to 153,000 in 2021, according to the data.
“We’ve seen a lot of our numbers return slowly back to where we were, but we’re not there yet,” Potter said.
Other libraries in the Greater Houston area have not recovered as well, Potter said. Some remained closed for several months, whereas Helen Hall reopened within weeks, which is why its numbers are growing again, Potter said.
“I think we took the risk and made ourselves available, and I think people appreciated that,” she said.
It helps the library is not just a building people visit, but also an entity that goes to where residents live, Potter said.
For instance, in August 2021, Helen Hall began its fire station storytimes, where residents gather once a month at a rotating local fire station for library staff to read books aloud to children and their parents. The number of participants in such programs rose to 26,226 in 2021 compared to 18,548 in 2020, but Potter said she wants even more growth.
Additionally, the library teams up with the city’s communications department to help put on community events, said Sarah Greer Osborne, director of communications and media relations.
“To us, it just makes complete sense that we’re partnered in community engagement,” she said.
Next steps
Despite the library’s advancements, a 2019 study from design firms PGAL and 720 Design shows the library is too small to meet the city’s needs. This has prompted the city to consider expanding the library or building a new one.
According to the firms, the state standard is to have 1 square foot of library space for every resident. At 29,300 square feet and 114,000 residents, Helen Hall Library is about four times too small, and the number of League City residents is expected to double over the coming decades, according to the 2019 study.
The consultants made several recommendations to increase the library’s square footage up to 170,000-244,000 square feet at costs between $105 million and $157 million. At such high prices, discussions about expanding the library fell away.
Questions about expanding the library were included in a 2021 survey the city sent to a random sample of over 400 households in fall 2021. The results, which were released in February, showed about 62% of respondents would support a westside library with a recreation center and park attached.
“I think it’s never a bad idea to have more libraries,” League City resident Racheal Emig said in an email. “I’d love the convenience of having a library on the west side, provided they keep the wide variety of books.”
Racheal’s teenage daughter, Eliana Emig, agreed.
“I’d love to know that even more kids and teens are getting to be near a good library,” she said. “It really can be a game changer.”
The idea to build an 8,000-square-foot library on a piece of city-owned land on the west side is in early discussions by the library board and parks department, Frankovich said. The undisclosed land is bookmarked for park space, and so the idea is to combine the library with a park and recreation center, he said.
“It’s a start,” he said of the 8,000-square-foot plan. “You’ve got to be reasonable.”
Officials hinted that such an idea could be part of a 2024 bond election.
“Ultimately, it will be up to the City Council to determine a funding mechanism and a timeline for moving forward with a potential project,” Osborne said.
Frankovich said the need for more library space is not going away.
“We keep telling them we need it now, but [City Council has] to do the planning with the budget and everything,” he said.
Hallisey agreed the library should be a priority.
“They have outgrown their facilities,” he said. “It’s up to us to figure out how to pay for it.”
