Ami Schiffbauer, development director for Mesa County Libraries, has long known that a library can play a crucial role in promoting literacy, education and lifelong learning. And she knew that Clifton, the unincorporated community between Grand Junction and Palisade, with the second-highest population in Mesa County, faced many economic challenges. Not the least of those was a library that was woefully tiny and outdated.
Schiffbauer spearheaded the years-long process to change that. After seemingly endless meetings and presentations to various organizations, businesses and individuals, in August 2022 ground was broken for the Clifton Branch of Mesa County Libraries. One year later, on August 29, 2023, the Clifton Library opened its doors to the public.
Funds for the library came from a variety of sources. The Mesa County Library District chipped in $8 million from funds that had been saved and invested over the years. Another $3.5 million came from the fundraising efforts of the Mesa County Libraries Foundation. The Foundation’s role was critical. It worked closely with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and the Business Incubator Center. The Incubator established an Enterprise Zone for the library, allowing donors to reap the benefits of tax credits, which were critical to the fundraising project. In fact, the Foundation exceeded its fundraising goal of $11.1 million.
With the experience and skills of local partners at FCI Constructors, Denver based Wember, Inc., the architecture and design firm Ratio, and Mesa Moving and Storage, Mesa County Libraries opened the main part of the library on time and under budget.
“While the campus build-out is not fully complete, the library’s doors are open and we are operational. In fact, within months of opening, we issued over 600 new library cards at the Clifton Branch,” Schiffbauer reflected on the response from the local community.
The new library, located in a residential area next to Rocky Mountain Elementary School, was the first building completed on Mesa County’s Clifton Community Campus. At almost 18,000 square feet, the library is more than three times larger than the previous Clifton Branch, which was a rented storefront with limited parking. With more activity rooms for children and teens, along with meeting spaces and multiple study rooms of different sizes, the new Clifton Branch offers the people in the community more opportunities to learn, discover, create, and connect.
Due in part to the ongoing availability of Enterprise Zone credits, the library will soon complete construction and open the Clifton Adult Learning Center. It will offer intensive GED prep and English language classes, along with tutoring and help preparing for the U.S. citizenship exam.
Visionaries like Ami Schiffbauer made this large-scale collaboration possible and expanded our community’s resources. Her leadership will create access and opportunity to library patrons for generations.