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Members of the West Hollywood City Council and other city employees celebrated the completion of phase one of the new library by signing a steel beam.

Known as a “topping out” ceremony, the girder was then lifted into place on the building, which is located in West Hollywood Park near the corner of San Vicente Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. The project is part of the city’s 25th Anniversary Capital Improvement Project, and will replace the existing West Hollywood Library, as well as provide more than 400 new parking spaces in an adjacent structure.

“We are nine months into a 27 month project, so we are about a third of the way there, and we are on schedule,” West Hollywood Mayor Abbe Land said. “When this is built, we will not only have a new library, but we will have meeting space, performance space, a place for the Friends of the Library, a wonderful place to have coffee, and parking.”

photo by Edwin Folven West Hollywood Mayor Abbe Land signs a beam that was placed inside the city’s new library and conference center. Land was joined at the ceremony by Mayor Pro Tempore John Heilman (right), as well as Councilmembers Lindsey Horvath and Jeffrey Prang.

The new library will include a community center, computer rooms, and a new cable access television studio. It is a LEED silver certified “green” building that will use solar power and energy efficient lighting and heating systems. The library will also spotlight the city’s diversity through a lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) collection, a decorative arts and design resources section, and a collection of large print materials for senior citizens and people who are visually impaired. A special room will house archival material focusing on the city’s history.

The library is only one component of the city’s improvements at West Hollywood Park. Additional components also include an increase in park space, and new tennis courts that will be constructed on the top level of the new parking structure. West Hollywood City Councilmember Jeffrey Prang said it exemplifies the city’s vision for the future.

“It’s an incredible testament to a lot of hard work and vision,” Prang said. “As a public official, there are few things you can look back on and say that we made a difference, and this project is one of them. It will be such an extraordinary project for years to come.”

The city’s entire capital improvement project will cost approximately $64 million, with the city funding approximately $54 million. A private group known as the West Hollywood Library Fund is in the process of raising an addition of $10 million.

“We have been working diligently for the past two years to come to this point, and move onwards to our $10 million dollar goal,” said Jeff Seymour, a board member for the West Hollywood Library Fund. “Today we are at $5.4 million dollars toward the goal of ten million, and as we move forward, we are announcing a community campaign for the library that will put us over the top.”

Anyone interested in donating to the West Hollywood Library fund should visit www.weholibraryfund.org. The library is scheduled to open in the fall of 2011.