Coming back from summer, Johnny Van Fiction opens the door to the Mt. Hood Community College library on his first day of fall classes.

Fiction is oblivious to what’s waiting inside, not knowing to stare curiously ahead as he arms the glass door aside, but his nose perks up to the smell of fresh paint, and it’s like he’s been whacked with a tennis racket.

Turning the corner, into the meat of the building, mounds of change dance across his sight. Not just the smooth paint lining around from stretches and corners, but there’s a wall where there wasn’t one last spring.

What’s that wavy thing above the circulation desk, and where exactly did the old checkout desk go?

There are lights on white poles jutting from the ceiling, nice and clean and white, and the carpet is clearly new, spreading from his feet the color of money.

Fiction is any student, every student, and this is their newly renovated library, a project MHCC President Robert Silverman says is but a hint of what he wanted.

“The library upgrade: I wish we could have done more,” Silverman said in an interview one week prior to the start of fall term, at a time when East County’s perception of the college seems muddied.

“What I find about [MHCC] is we’re probably the most unrecognized facility in East Metro,” Silverman said. “Most times when I go out into the community, everybody talks nice about us, everybody says, ‘Hey, you’re absolutely a great institution.’ But it doesn’t translate into the ballot box,” he continued, referring to East County’s majority thumbing down much needed bond measures.

“Last time we all went out with a bond to try to build a brand new library, the bond was turned down,” said Silverman. “I just keep trying to make the case that this is a college that’s old. That’s what we live with.”

Regardless, the lack of community support didn’t stop the college from propelling forward: They took out a pseudo-loan.

Chief financial officer Gary Murph, Silverman’s money guy, explained that the financing they received for the remodel comes from a full-faith-and-credit obligation, a debt that any person, such as an investor, purchases into and sees returns anywhere from two to 20 years out.

“But the college has a very good credit rating,” said Murph, “so we got a very good interest rate on the financing in the range of 2 percent to 4.2.”

According to Silverman, the college will have a chunk of the loan paid off within three years thanks to a donation by Fred Bruning, a local real estate mogul.

MHCC’s endeavor in the library, part of a campus-wide beautification process that includes both the roof and 60-70 classrooms being updated or renovated, has a hefty price tag attached.

“The contract price is $850,000,” said Murph, “and that was a guaranteed maximum.” And though the costs aren’t all in, Murph believes the library may shy the bid’s maximum by $20,000 to $30,000, a positive sign given the state’s funding rollback.

Last spring, the college had anticipated a state allocation of $21.5 million, but funding was slashed by nearly $500,000—putting MHCC at a state-funding level similar to the late 1990s, about $20.97 million.

“It puts us behind,” said Murph of the funding decline.

The college experienced another round of delays during the remodel, including asbestos abatement that Murph said was “very minor.”

Doors were shipped late, commissioned countertops came in at the tail end of the project, and there will be temporary furniture because, as Jan Marie Fortier, the library coordinator, said, “We can’t have nothing.”

As for the hang-ups, Murph said, “It wasn’t because of anyone’s failure, it’s just the dynamics of a construction project being a complex undertaking.”

Students may not see the scope of additions to the library early in the first week of classes, but, according to Fortier, “that same week school starts, the new tables and chairs that are going to be in the living room area, and the lamps on the tables, are coming.”

All in all, the college hopes the changes provide a certain atmosphere, with an updated look and what Murph calls a “Borders-esque” vibe.

“Well, the idea—for lack of a better word—was to give it a living room concept,” said Murph. The college wanted to get away from a regimented look and in the process navigate to a setup where studying could be eased by comfort.

Most of the design stemmed from the architect’s interpretation of what the college wanted.
“We’re not design people,” said Murph. “We’re finance people, we’re librarians, we’re facilities people. That’s why you hire an architect, that’s why you hire design consultants. You tell them what you want to do and it’s their responsibility to take that and interpret that into a design.”

Fortier believes the library has been restored a setup comparable to when it was first built. The high ceiling will be directly above the lounge, where the couches and tables are located, says Fortier, not above “stacks that get in the way of a kind of humanness.”
The resources available to students are still present within the library, like computers for research and Internet access, as well books, journals, databases, media materials like DVDs and videos, and adequate supplies of reference books.

“Students are going to start seeing a much better book collection, what I call more dynamic. There will be more current materials tied to the curriculum of the college and the programs we offer,” said Fortier, adding that the college is building its resources in all areas, “and it’s going to start showing.”

Fortier and her staff, who endured a quick end-of-year move last spring, began moving out of the library’s temporary summer location inside the Jazz Café late last week, and the library staff will miss their home-away-from-home.

“We all love the windows. We don’t have them in the library- in our offices at least - and we’ll miss that,” said Fortier.

But noise from other people, phone conversations, and the fact that the library staff had to utilize runners so students could check out books still located inside the then mid-remodeled library, serve as a solid series of cons for Fortier.

There were hardly any complaints about the move, though. Fortier believes that people understood “we were really pretty amazing to be able to set up a whole little library over here so well.”

Silverman agreed, saying, “I was very concerned over the summer that we wouldn’t have adequate services. [But] I think our librarians have done an outstanding job at recreating a small library, and I have heard nothing but compliments all summer.”

In an email released Tuesday, Fortier said they would not be able to open the library until the first day of fall term, Sept. 26.