Darien Library has earned LEED Gold certification!

Back on October 26, 2006, when our Library Director Louise Berry spoke about the planning of the new buiding, she'd said, "The new library will be a Green Building. If we are able to achieve all of our environmental targets, we may get a Gold rating. I love the idea that the Darien Library, as a building, will be an educational model of environmental leadership."

Well...we are now, officially, Gold!

Here's the LEED story...

Darien Library has received LEED® Gold certification, making it the first LEED Gold library in New England, and the first LEED library of any type in Connecticut. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project is environmentally responsible, profitable, and a healthy place to live and work. Certification is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council to projects that adhere to universally-accepted criteria such as energy efficiency, local materials used in construction, water efficiency, and indoor environmental quality.

Features that earned the Gold certification include a geothermal system for heating and cooling, a bioswale coupled with an underground storage system to capture storm-water runoff, sensors to detect whether spaces are occupied, an RFID-enabled materials management system, and low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) construction materials – all part of a broad array of environmentally-conscious and cost-effective measures designed into Darien Library. Additionally, first-step significant environmental remediation of the site, a former gas station, included removing years of contaminants from petroleum and other chemical spills.

Darien Library was designed by Peter Gisolfi of Peter Gisolfi Associates of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, and A.P. Construction, the construction and general contracting division of The Ashforth Company, performed the construction of the Library. The LEED certification process was overseen by Viridian Energy and Environmental, of Norwalk, Connecticut. Strict sustainable construction practices were used throughout the 54,000 square foot Library.

Darien Library Director Louise Berry said, “We are thrilled that Darien Library has received the USGB’s LEED Gold certification. Darien Library was paid for entirely with private funds. More than 1650 families donated $24 million to the project – an expression of confidence in the future of the Library, and its place at the heart of the Town of Darien. We are grateful for the enormous support the Library has received and LEED certification is an important validation of this commitment to the future of Darien.”

It means a lot!

One year ago today, we opened the New Darien Library. It was a day to remember! 

It's been a year to remember, too! Here's a dizzying glimpse  ~

For even more great visuals and information, check out the Microsoft Surface in our Children's Library for an interactive tour. (Read all about it right here.)

I'm still considering...is it our birthday or our anniversary. I think, both.

Happy Birthday! Happy Anniversary! Thank you, Darien!

Darien Library. It's for you!

Onto Year Two! 

January 10th, 2010 will mark the one year anniversary since the New Darien Library opened its doors. To commemorate our fascinating journey leading up to the occasion, take an interactive media tour with the "Darien Library Media" application on the Microsoft Surface table in the Children's Library. This hands-on activity lets you explore some of our many photo sets from the Darien Library on Flickr, through zooming, resizing, and rotating, as well as viewing videos from our Feature Films Channel on Vimeo.

Photo sets include:

• History of the Library
• History of the Heron
• Groundbreaking 2007
• Building the New Darien Library
• The Finished Building
• Our Grand Opening
• The Heron's New Home
• ...and more!

So stop on by, and enjoy this fun, social and exciting experience like you’ve never had before.

So, today, we teeter on the edge of the New Year, and it's impossible for us to not recall 2009 and our first year in the New Darien Library! We opened this building on January 10, 2009 and hit the ground running. The materials, services, assistance, resources, programs, events, opportunities, technology, support, comfort, and experiences that we've been able to provide and share have been staggering and exciting.  The video, below, is a very small sample of what our year was like. Warning! It may make you a little dizzy. Still, we leave 2009 not with a stagger, but with maybe a bit of a strut. We are so proud and we know that we've barely hit our stride. 

Darien Library. It's for you!

Happy New Year! Happy Old Year!

The New Darien Library was designed and constructed using sustainable technology and practices. The Library incorporates various features to optimize energy efficiency and overall sustainability. From the initial planning stages, the opportunity to include "green" elements to create a healthy, environmentally-friendly building were explored and embraced. Sustainable features can be found throughout the 57,000 square foot building - inside and out - in the space, the systems and equipment, and in the building materials. Please click here for all the details on Darien Library's Sustainable Features.

At Darien Library, the future is now.

We've been all over the place!

Last month, while in Chicago for the ALA (American Library Association) Annual Conference, it was extremely exciting (and very cool) to see copies of Library Journal's 2009 Design Issue (that's US on the cover!) on display throughout the convention floor!

July was a bit of a "WOW" month for Darien Library and we are very happy to share this news with you, our members...the most important part of the Darien Library equation!

First, I'll share the latest news - announced last week, Darien Library has been selected as a Green Building of America Award-winning project and will be featured in the upcoming special Real Estate & Construction Review - Northeast Green Success Stories edition. Darien Library project (submitted by A.P Construction Company) was one of more than 2,500 nominated projects. To read more, click on the attachment at the bottom of this article.

Other big news for us was the release of the Hennen’s American Public Library Rankings (HAPLR) Index rankings  For the 9th consecutive year, Darien Library has been ranked as one of the Top Ten Libraries in its population category, making it one of the Top 100 Libraries in the United States. Click here to learn more.

Darien Library also recently won the top award from the Connecticut Green Building Council (CTGBC) for Institutional/Public Building. The CTGBC Awards are for current work that has been completed, ideally in Connecticut, but not limited to that if the design firm is from Connecticut. Darien Library, submitted by Peter Gisolfi Associates, won the award for Most Intriguing institution. The Library is projected to be the first LEED Gold certified library in New England based on the selection of its site, water efficiency, energy use and atmosphere, use of materials, and indoor environmental quality. It was also awarded points for the building’s innovation. For more details, click here.

...AND last, but not least, though we told you back in March about our own John Blyberg being the 2009 recipient of the LITA/Brett Butler Entrepreneurship Award for his development of the Social OPAC application suite, the award ceremony took place last month at the ALA conference.  The LITA/Brett Butler Entrepreneurship Award, established in 2004, is given to recognize exemplary entrepreneurship by providing an innovative product or service designed to meet the needs of the library world through the skillful and practical application of information technology. Social OPAC (http://thesocialopac.net), also known as SOPAC (for Social Online Public Access Catalog), is a suite of open source software (OSS) tools that brings the power of social computing and Web 2.0 to library catalogs. To read more, please click here.

We share with you our pride. We share with you our gratitude. Thank you, Darien for being such strong supporters of your award-winning Darien Library!

The Connecticut Green Building Council (CTGBC) recently announced the winners of its 2^nd Annual Design Awards, with Darien Library winning the top award for Institutional/Public Building. At a luncheon held last month at the Peabody Museum at Yale University, the 2009 CTGBC Awards Program recognized excellence in green building design.

Please note that our parking lot traffic pattern has changed.

The Hecker Avenue parking lot driveway closest to the Library building is now designated as EXIT only, with a left-turn lane and a right-turn lane. 

The entrance to the Library parking lot from Hecker Avenue is the driveway that is closest to the Darien Police Station.

And...you'll also notice that not only is our courtyard fountain finished and gorgeous, but our new crosswalk lines are designed to help our visitors cross most safely with the traffic flow.

"...the recent addition of signs reserving seven parking spaces for hybrid cars, as well as two bike racks, is based on a LEED recommendation that encourages environmental focus when planning transportation to the library." (Darien Library will be the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Library in New England.), To read Dot's letter in its entirety, you can either read it at the Darien News' website or open the attachment below. 

Library Director Louise Berry, also addressing concerns, said "The LEED program encourages fuel efficiency, not just in the building, but in the transportation to and from LEED certified buildings. Another part of our LEED certification application is to be an educational model for increasing awareness of conserving energy and protecting the environment."

In response to concerns that the hybrid spaces take up too many spots close to the building, we will be moving three of the spaces away from the building to the middle of the parking lot.  As we discuss this issue, it's important to note that the spaces provide preferred parking for someone who has a hybrid vehicle, but the spaces are not restricted to hybrid vehicles. By the way, if you're interested in the vehicles that can be considered "high efficiency" by LEED, we've attached a list, also below.

Encouragement and incentives for energy and environmental conservation are nothing new. Some local governments offer special exemptions for hybrid vehicles, such as free reign to drive in High Occupancy Vehicle, or HOV, lanes, regardless of the number of people in the car. Some companies also offer preferred parking for hybrids, or employee rebates.

We'd like to invite you to continue the conversation. Please leave a comment right here. Let's talk about it.

Over the past week or so, some new signs in our parking lot have gotten quite a bit of attention. There are seven of these signs...Preferred Parking for Hybrid Vehicles they say, and we've been listening and responding to what our community is saying about them. There have been kudos and complaints.

We are fortunate to have in our community, on our Board, and our building committee, Dot Kelly, who continues to be our key "point person" on environmental issues and concerns for this building. In her recent Letter to the Editor of the Darien News, Dot explained many aspects of the Library's commitment to environmental leadership, including this remark: