Bedford Public Library serving our community for almost 50 years.

• 1964
  The First Bedford Public Library opened in a small rental house.
• 1968
  The Library moved to larger house on Forest Ridge Drive.
• 1972
  A new City Hall was constructed nearby and the library moved the collection of 19,800 items to the first floor of the new facility.
• 1987
  Construction of the present 17,000 square foot facility was completed.
• 2001
  The City passed an $8.885 million bond package to build a new library facility.
• 2005
  A property tax rollback election resulted in the temporary closure of the Bedford Public Library. An anonymous donation of $125,000 and fundraising efforts by the Bedford Library Friends allowed for the library to re-open a month later.
• 2007
  City Council voted to purchase the 37,000 square foot building to be renovated to house the new Library.
• Today
  The Library is open seven days a week for a total of 59 hours. The collection contains over 100,000 items. The library acts as a bridge for the digital divide by providing computers, wireless computer classes and online databases. The Youth Services Division seeks to instill a passion for reading and learning in children through a host of programs including story times, tutoring, summer reading club and many special events.

Why a new library?
The Bedford Public Library is a much loved, cultural institution that shares its wealth of knowledge freely and can be used by anyone. With an average of 4,500 patrons visiting weekly, the library continues to be one of the most popular destinations in the city. The Bedford Public Library is a cost-effective operation that provides excellent customer service and immediate access to a collection of over 100,000 items. Due to increased patron demands, a greater variety of resources and programs, and the advent of electronic technology, the current facility no longer meets the needs of the community.

The current library is unable to expand the number of computers or electrical outlets for laptop users. Parking is at capacity and insufficient for special events. There is limited seating and the children’s area is woefully inadequate for our families. Although the library has an active teen group, the library has no dedicated space for them. The Library Buddy Tutoring program takes place in the middle of the library, creating distractions for students and patrons looking for a quiet reading area.

For the future
In August 2007, the City Council purchased the Food Lion Building from the HEB Independent School District for $2.215 million dollars. The building was ideal for the library since it was located in the Cultural District, had ample square footage and is in close proximity to the Historic Old Bedford School. The city hired Hidell and Associates Architects to design a new library. The firm was chosen for its creativity and conviction that community involvement is paramount to the success of designing a new library that will meet the needs of citizens in the future.

An Express Yourself Campaign was kicked off with an online and print survey and focus groups. Results were used to begin programming the building and to plan Design Charrettes. The community was invited to a series of Library Design Workshops to lay out the library of their dreams. A Town Hall Meeting was held in July 2008 and the community was asked to vote on their favorite library design. The design created by our teens won by an overwhelming margin.

The architects went to work creating four conceptual floor plans based on the winning design. The City Council approved the concept that provided 65 public access computers, a dedicated Teen Center, a large community room, seven study rooms, a Quiet Reading Room, an expanded children’s area, Story Time and Discovery Room. The design increased the square footage of the building from 37,000 square feet to 40,516 square feet. The selected design will convert the existing Food Lion structure from an eyesore to a building that Bedford citizens can be proud of for years to come.