CITY HAS PLAN FOR NEW LIBRARY OFFICIALS LOOKING AT ADAMS SQUARE.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

GLENDALE - City officials expect to open Glendale's newest library early next year in a storefront in the Adams Square neighborhood, thanks to a new lease worked out with a local property owner.

The lease needs to be approved at Tuesday's City Council meeting in order for the city to start renovating the site for a 2,200-square-foot library. The storefront library, less than half the size of a regular library, is meant to serve local residents who now get books by driving to another branch or waiting for a bookmobile to drive by.

Building a full-scale library can cost tens of millions of dollars. The city hopes to bring a bigger one to the neighborhood in a few years.

``The idea was, `OK, let's get something small up and running quickly,' '' said Nancy Hunt-Coffey, the city's director of library services. ``It may not have all the bells and whistles of a full-scale branch library, but at least it gets something in the hands of kids before they graduate from high school.''

The space for the library is in an art deco building at Chevy Chase Drive and Adams Street. It would be leased from the building's owner, Neighborhood Legal Services, which is asking for $3,832 a month.

Renovating, furnishing and equipping the space for a library with 5,000 books would cost $946,375, Hunt-Coffey said.

Meanwhile, the city is looking several years ahead and planning expansions.

``I don't think we have sufficient libraries in the city,'' Mayor Rafi Manoukian said. ``All you have to do is go to some of these libraries around the schools, like Grandview, and see how heavily they are used and how crowded they are.''

The city has a central library, a combined library and art center and five branch locations.

One of the projects city officials are considering involves expanding the Montrose Branch Library, which sits next to an aging fire station. Officials want to build a fire station across the street on a site the city bought in 1998 for $1.8 million and use the vacant space from the old station to expand the library.

The city is also considering closing the Casa Verdugo Branch at 1151 N. Brand Blvd., and possibly the Grandview Branch at 1535 Fifth St., both decades old and too small. The city would replace them with a bigger library at Hoover High School that residents and students could use.

Officials have noticed changes in the way the city's libraries are used. Instead of just taking out books, visitors now rely on the library for Internet access and go there as a place to meet, do homework and take part in cultural activities.

``If Barnes & Noble can provide a bookstore with a little coffee area inside and a little sitting space and a book area,'' Manoukian said, ``I don't see why the city can't move in that direction as well.''

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com