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Slabtown’s library has been closed since November, but the new year starts off with a bang for the neighborhood. Its new library opens Jan. 10 with a parade through the facility and remarks by public officials, including Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
Located on Northwest Pettygrove Street at 21st Avenue in a renovated office building last occupied by a digital design firm, the Northwest Library is, at 11,000 square feet, more than twice the size of the former location at the corner of Northwest 23rd Avenue and Thurman Street. And while the library leased out that location, its new building is owned by Multnomah County Library. The purchase was made possible by passage of a $387 million bond by voters in 2020; the bond also funded the renovation or replacement of seven other library branches and the construction of a new branch in East Portland.
“We have a lot of space for people, and that’s what we kept hearing from the community: ‘We need a place to be, to meet, to create, to gather,’ but they don’t want to pay for it or can’t afford to pay for it,” Katie O’Dell, the Library Capital Building Projects’ deputy director, told reporters during a Jan. 7 press tour. “Anything we can do that modifies, helps us be flexible, we’re trying it.”
With an almost fully open layout, Northwest Library includes two divisible community rooms people can rent for personal or professional use—or that the library can use for author events and public storytimes. It also has seven conference rooms that can accommodate four patrons comfortably for anything from a private study hall or board room to a digital hangout corner. Younger patrons will have use of a children’s corner featuring a bespoke play structure and reading nook shaped like a nest with encased organic materials like feathers, twigs and preserved insects. O’Dell told reporters that a biophilic design was part of the loose “Slabtown and Swifts” aesthetic that designers wanted to impress upon patrons.
“Any way we can make people feel a connection to nature is very important, especially for behavior and self-regulation,” she said.
A nearby teen corner includes video games, study tables, a dry erase art wall, and shelves of young adult literature and graphic novels. Parents, meanwhile, will have a lactation room and a “tiny toilet” separate from the gender-neutral single-stall restroom if they need to make a quick stop with their youngest ones. Along with books, print publications, and electronic media like movies and music, library patrons can also access printing services and check out Chromebook laptops. New self-checkout kiosks have also been installed.
“People, especially kids, love to check out their own books,” O’Dell says, “but it’s really efficient for our staff.”
The LEED Silver-certified building recycled wood from Multnomah County Library’s operations center, which opened in 2024 out of a renovated Safeway location. Nearly every corner is rounded, with the exception of a live-edge timber table left behind by the building’s previous occupants. Reflective balls hung from the ceiling help library staff keep an eye on a partially obstructed area within the kids’ corner, while discreet sound-absorbing panels were installed to make sure that patron noise could be dampened in the open layout, which can be notoriously noisy.
Security has been a hot-button issue at public libraries for years: A March 2024 audit found 40% of staff at all library locations reported feeling unsafe at work, and last summer a 50-year-old man was shot and killed across the street from Multnomah County’s Central Library, prompting a new wave of concern about the safety of public libraries.
“Everyone is welcome at the library, but there can be friction between patrons, and between patrons and staff,” O’Dell says. “It’s so important to have a sightline for staff to be able to easily communicate with each other, to figure out what’s going on, and deescalate and hopefully preserve everyone’s right to stay in the library.”
Portland Street Art Alliance and the Regional Arts & Culture Council helped connect Kyler Martz and Christine Clark to the Northwest Library. Martz contributed expansive nature-influenced paintings, one of which depicts a flock of Vaux’s swifts that for years were associated with nearby Chapman Elementary. (As WW reported in September, the birds did not return this past fall, likely after being scared by recreational drones flown into the flock previously.) A suspended metal ceiling installation by Christine Clark mimics the motion of water and fits with a color scheme voted on by more than 1,200 people online.
“This one big rectangle room, we’re excited to see how it works, and how the building can work for us, for our staff and the public,” O’Dell says.
Editor’s Note: This story has been edited to accurately reflect the location of the 2025 shooting. WW regrets the error.
SEE IT: Northwest Library grand opening, 2030 NW Pettygrove St., 503-988-5123, multcolib.org . 9:30 am Saturday, Jan. 10. Free. All ages.
