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The Valatie Free Library is a small library with plans to make a big difference. The threshold
for defining a “small library” in the United States, according to LJ’s Best Small Library in America
Award, is a library serving fewer than 25,000 people. The Valatie Free Library serves just over
4300 people and currently does so in a 750 square foot library building. Now that’s small!
Yet this small library, in rural New York, had the spotlight on it during Rio+20, the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012.
The library caught the attention of the UN’s Sustainability Initiative, The Future We
Want/Rio+20, for its commitment to investing in a new library facility with the goal of attaining
near net-zero energy usage.
Net-zero has been defined by the U.S. Department of Energy as a building that produces as
much energy as it uses over the course of a year. Net-zero energy buildings are very energy
efficient. The remaining low-energy needs are typically met with onsite renewable energy.
This small rural library, with an operating budget of just over $70,000, has been saving for years
to address its space issues. With just 750 square feet, the library is serving its community in a
facility less than one-quarter of the size necessary.
AN EXPLOSION OF ACTIVITY
In the past ten years, the library has seen a literal explosion of activity; in 2002, the library
offered just six programs for the public; last year, almost 140. Program attendance is up more
than 1000 percent.
“Ten years ago we could fit programs outside, weather permitting, or inside the library after
regular operating hours. Now, we conduct programs in a local church hall, a former village café,
and the library. Scheduling events has become a challenge as we work around usage by other
groups and try to fit larger groups of children into our current very small building,” says library
director Elizabeth Powhida. “In the current library, seating and workspace are very limited. It is
difficult and sometimes impossible to have room for tutors and their students, patrons using
laptops, and people reading a newspaper or book at the one table [we have]. To accommodate
this usage, we set up card tables in corners, making a crowded facility even more crowded,”
says Powhida.
When a property on the main thoroughfare near the village became available, the board perked
up and started watching the asking price. As the economy nose-dived, the property owners
became more motivated to sell and the price dropped. The library expressed interest early on
but was firm that the asking price was not within reach. After two years of patience by the
library board, the owners ended up cutting the initial asking price in half, making it achievable
for the library.

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THE BUILDING PROCESS
The “new” building was originally constructed as the Kinderhook Steam Railroad Freight Barn in
the 1890s and was moved along Route 9 in the Village of Valatie in the 1930s. By planning to
use existing building stock rather than clear-cutting land and employing new resources to build
a new library, the board had already begun down the path that would garner worldwide
attention.
“Valatie’s 80-year-old library building was no longer meeting the needs of its constituency.
Considering the exponentially rising costs of energy, a plan to relocate to a much larger space
would prohibitively deplete the operating budget,” says library board president Erica Balon.
Attention to the built environment, commitment to project cost efficiency, and an eye toward
feasible operating costs in a facility three times the size of its current facility have led the
Valatie Free Library to begin working with architect David Bienn, who has over two decades of
experience, specifically with “evergreen” design initiatives, in conjunction with sustainable
communities in Europe and the United States. While working with GEN, the Global Ecovillage
Network, Bienn notes he had a front-row seat to observe emerging sustainable design
technologies being applied in Scandinavia, Scotland, and other sites in Europe at the time. After
almost 20 years abroad, Bienn returned to the United States to help rebuild New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina.
LEARNING FROM KATRINA
Bienn, with input from Powhida and the Valatie library board, has designed a facility that will
create a highly energy-efficient library facility using emerging-technology materials and
construction techniques that have come to the fore during the rebuilding of New Orleans.
“The community has been very patient with our existing facility. We look forward to offering a
library where adults can leisurely browse, teens have their special nook, and children have a
secure, spacious, and cheerful room. We envision a comfortable location in which we can
conduct classes and provide speakers and presentations for groups, currently impossible,”
Powhida says. “I hope people will be attracted first to the beauty and energy-efficient design of
the building itself and then to what this library can provide—the means to enrich life and
expand its possibilities.”
Bienn views the building as a “microcosm of the community” and is motivated not only by the
exciting things happening in library services these days but also by the opportunity to have this
new library serve as an inspiration for sustainable design.
“The role of the designer is to listen and help to birth that process, especially in a public facility
such as the Valatie Free Library, and to try to help manifest that architectural archetype that
best resonates with the needs and desires of all involved,” says Bienn. “At the same time, in the
Valatie project we are trying to attain a near net-zero energy use, i.e., we are trying to
implement and overlay a new set of technologies that are subject to existing codes based on
conventional building techniques and striving to gain ground in practical application. There are
many factors to juggle to satisfy all requirements and wishes, and the end result is still a moving
target.”

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THE VALATIE DESIGN
The design includes the installation of skylights, photo-voltaic solar panel technology, and
ductless air-conditioning, with the goal of creating a facility that has a low demand for energy
to light, while heating and cooling it while generating the energy load that is needed onsite.
The planned building envelope, made of materials and construction techniques developed in
the rebuilding of New Orleans, will also protect against fire, hurricanes, and other natural
disasters, thus also saving on insurance.
“Since the Gulf Coast experienced the devastation of the storms of 2005, a whole slew of the
latest building technologies have appeared as start-ups and business incubators in the region,”
says Bienn. “These technologies are focused on the viability and strength of the structures in
hurricane circumstances and also improve variously fire regulation standards, termite
protection, and strength of materials. We expect to use one such system at Valatie—the SIP
system of wall and roof construction for the new area of the building. That’s a structural steel
insulated panel system, a method that has been constantly updated and improved since being
originally introduced in a simple form by one of the students of Frank Lloyd Wright.”
An opportunity is also being found with the ability to generate power from the sun during an
emergency, such as an ice storm or other incident. Last year the region suffered from Hurricane
Irene, and many residents sought refuge in area libraries where they could charge phones,
tablets, and laptops (as well as find a functioning restroom!). With a growing number of
residents who are telecommuting and those who split their work between upstate towns and
New York City, the ability to connect online is vital to their livelihood.
“Maintaining the status quo among universally rising costs—especially within the context of this
uncertain economy—is a primary concern for donors,” says capital campaign cochair Lori
Yarotsky. “The library’s operating budget is scrutinized and evaluated against both the known
current rate of inflation and the unknown but exponentially rising cost of energy. The most
common question I receive from donors? Is your budget sustainable? Are you sustainable for
ten years or more? The solution afforded by a sustainable library with a near-net-zero footprint
brings donor focus back to the classic realm, where their generosity can help [their] community,
and the library can remain open and vital.”