On Oct 27, 2018, Hayward closed down a part of C Street outside of the new Hayward City library construction site to celebrate the new library building, that’s still under construction, with a street fair and ribbon cutting.

Hayward came together to celebrate the long four-year process of planning, funding and constructing of the new main branch building of the Hayward Library. Hayward had been in need of a new branch because the old building was too small, even after the two expansions in 1951 and 1970.

The new building was designed to be a library of the future. It is three stories tall and can hold 50 percent more materials than the last building. Even with the increase in space, the new building also managed to fit a new makerspace, a digital media lab, multiple community meeting rooms, and a new cafe.

The makerspace is designed for the community to learn with and use 3D printers, robotics building, and sewing machines for textiles. Hayward Techies are leading the makerspace and will be teaching classes there when it officially opens.

“The digital-media lab will be like a recording studio, that is for the public, so people can go and record their music and stuff. Including video editing software, Photoshop, all that’s also going to be for the public.” Library worker Kavita Sagran stated.

The Hayward Library will also have autonomous robots as security guards patrolling the parking structure built right next to the Library. The K5 by Knightscope is roughly 5 feet tall and will be patrolling on wheels.

The K5 will be able to see where it’s going using various cameras and LIDAR to help it see better, and recognize, people and suspicious activities. The K5 will check the license plates of the cars parked in the structure, and match them to a list for any license plates that the police could be looking for.

“One of Hayward’s biggest goals is reducing our greenhouse gasses, our footprint and just being good stewards of the environment, and this library is going to be the best building in the city to do that.” Hayward Mayor Barbara Halliday announced proudly during her speech at the grand opening.

The library building is going to be a net-zero-energy building, meaning the amount of energy the building uses annually will be about the same as how much renewable energy is created by its solar panels. The basement of the old building will also be turned into a sophisticated rain gathering device to be filtered and used for irrigation in the local area as well as the library’s toilets.

The library is still unfinished and not fully open yet. “We’re hoping [to open the library by] November.” Said Kavita Sagran. “Before the first of the year.” Jane Light the Interim director chimed in.

The Hayward Library will issue cards to any California resident who applies. All you need is your ID, and you will be able to use any of the facilities in the new building when it opens.