Bringing Back the Hoover Branch Library
The Hoover Branch Library is coming back — and this community is designing it. The Feasibility Study is a partnership of the City of Oakland, Oakland Public Library, and the Friends of the Hoover Durant Public Library, built on a simple belief: the people of the Hoover catchment should shape their own library.
Over two years, residents and stakeholders named their concerns, goals, and priorities — and on September 14, 2024, blink!LAB architecture presented design ideas for the future branch at Brockhurst & Market Street, drawn directly from the voices of Clawson, Hoover, McClymonds, and Longfellow.
The Study at a Glance
The Hoover Branch Library Feasibility Study is a two-year, community-led partnership of the City of Oakland, Oakland Public Library, and the Friends of the Hoover Durant Public Library. Along the way, 557 residents of the Clawson, Hoover, McClymonds, and Longfellow neighborhoods shared their time, voices, and visions to shape the future of a new branch library in West Oakland.
Why This Matters
West Oakland's last branch library, the Telegraph Branch, closed in 1950, after officials claimed this was "not a reading neighborhood." The Hoover-Durant community has been working to bring its library back ever since.
What the Study Did & Found
Through surveys, StreetLAB events, storytelling sessions, and community workshops, residents defined what a new Hoover Branch Library should be. blink!LAB architecture turned that input into design concepts for the future branch, presented to the community on September 14, 2024, at Brockhurst & Market Street in Oakland — designs drawn directly from the voices of Clawson, Hoover, McClymonds, and Longfellow.
Explore the design work — blink!LAB architecture, Hoover Branch Library Feasibility Study:
https://blink-lab.com/projects/library-feasibility-hoover
Where Things Stand — October 2026
The feasibility study is complete, and the Hoover Branch Library Progress Report has been published. The designated home for the new branch and Community Resilience Center is 3105 San Pablo Avenue, at 31st Street in West Oakland. As the next steps move forward with the City of Oakland and Oakland Public Library, FOHDPL is raising funds today for the programs and services the new branch will offer when its doors open.
Feasibility Study Update:
The Hoover Branch Library Progress Report is now available!
Thank you to the 557 participants who shared their time, voices and visions with us for the study! Through this community-led and community-informed process we have learned so much from our community and have loved hearing your stories and experiences through the survey, StreetLAB events, Storytelling Workshop and our Community Workshops.
The Feasibility Study team has delivered a report of the Task 1 and Task 2 activities. Please continue to support the study by following on Instagram at @FOHDPL and @oaklibrary.
Below are some photos from the events and workshops:
