The Santa Cruz County library system has seen its share of turmoil in the past year — many branches have drastically scaled back hours, suffered layoffs and put off upgrades or repairs.

Last year, library leaders were forced to chop more than $1 million from an already bare-bones budget.

In the midst of that bleakness, Scotts Valley’s planned new library symbolizes a beacon of hope, as organizers set out to build a branch that meets the needs of the times, said Teresa Landers, county library director.

“I’m very hopeful, because this will be the first facility that will have 21st-century standards, which will save staff time and provide more efficient services,” Landers said. “We’re desperate to have one that is functional and meets today’s standards.”

Landers has become a fixture in the community, contributing columns to local newspapers and leading planning meetings. Even in this time of uncertainty, Landers, who was hired as director in 2009, is a strong advocate for Scotts Valley’s future branch.

“There are a lot of libraries in Santa Cruz County, but without a lot of square footage,” Landers said. “It’s a lot of small, antiquated libraries. This one has the potential to be an over-20,000-square-foot library.”

Plans have steadily moved forward since the city bought the 23,000-square-foot Scotts Valley Sports Center last summer for $4.5 million, with designs to use about 13,000 square feet for the new library and the rest for retail options.

The project’s $7 million price tag will be paid for with nearly $5 million in borrowed bond money and another $2.7 million the city has saved from its redevelopment agency and developer fees. Since 1990, Scotts Valley has set aside about $330,000 of those fees each year specifically for a library.

Into the future, that $330,000 per year will be used to pay back the 30-year bond and interest on that bond, City Manager Steve Ando said.

The additional $7.8 million interest the bond will accumulate over 30 years — for a total bond repayment of $12.8 million — will also be paid with redevelopment money that the city agreed to spend on the library. By a written agreement, Santa Cruz County would have withheld that money from the city if it weren’t used to pay for a library, Ando said.

Scotts Valley Mayor Jim Reed, who is also a member of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries Joint Powers Board and a leading advocate for the project’s frugality, said that if the city chose to forgo building the library, it would lose access to that money.

“We’ve been committed for years to have to build,” Reed said. “If we don’t open soon, we are obligated to pay rent on the existing building.”

To help close escrow on the old sports center, the city borrowed about $2 million from its wastewater enterprise fund, which will also be paid back using redevelopment money. The city is required to repay the borrowed money with interest by 2014, Ando said.

Earlier plans to build a library on empty land in Skypark as the centerpiece of the proposed Town Center were tossed last year, when city leaders got the chance to buy the sports center from the Slawinski family and renovate it — a much cheaper proposition than building from the ground up, Reed said.

The Scotts Valley City Council is scheduled to review bids to build the library in July, and construction will likely begin in July or August.

“This is a great opportunity to get a sorely needed community space without impacting the general fund one dime,” Reed said.

The future is now

At 5,000 square feet, Scotts Valley’s existing library is almost three times smaller than the planned library. During the 32 hours it is open each week, it’s a hotspot for knitters, school children, researchers, homemakers, students and out-of-towners.

But many say the city has outgrown the space, and resources like seating and computers are stretched.

The Scotts Valley branch has the second-highest book checkout rate in the county. Last year, it had about 10,815 visitors, while another 342,600 people accessed the library’s Web site.

The Friends of the Library’s Scotts Valley Chapter has met there throughout the past year and half. So far, the group has raised $25,000 to furnish and fill the new library.

“This is not going to be just a basic library. We want it to reflect our community in Scotts Valley,” said Elizabeth Walsh, president of the Scotts Valley chapter. “There are a lot of families with children here, and we want it to be very family friendly.”

The Friends plan to have a large-print section for folks with limited vision and an expanded teen area. There will also be public art walls, Walch said.

Another new feature will be a self-checkout system, added to a knowledgeable staff available to help patrons. The building will be structured to allow automatic check-in to streamline the task of sorting books, too —

though the city cannot afford that system just yet.

“The goal is to have a setting in which everyone feels comfortable,” Walch said. “We want to make the library suitable for the community and reflective of what Scotts Valley wants. We’re eager to make it the best library it can be.”

The decorative themes are still to be determined, but the Friends hope to incorporate Scotts Valley’s history, Walch said.

People will have the opportunity to sponsor certain areas, she added.

Walch said the new library will also serve people in Felton and Boulder Creek, where library hours have been cut most drastically. The new branch will have the same schedule as the existing Scotts Valley library, and other libraries in the area will not change their hours as a result.

“We don’t expect any major changes as a result of the new library,” Landers said.

She said books to fill the library will be bought with gift money and taken from existing collections. There will be many more computers, as well, she added.

“A library serves the community on so many levels, especially in hard economic times,” Landers said. “It gives people a chance to research and look for jobs online for free. It’s a productive resource that offers free services.”