Tulsa outlines $58 million plan for new Rudasill Regional Library in North Tulsa

Keith Jemerson, manager of the Rudasill Regional Library, presented designs and a timeline Tuesday for a two‑story replacement of the North Tulsa branch, telling the African American Affairs Commission the city’s My Library, Our Future capital campaign totals $58,000,000.

"The total campaign is for all four locations. It's $58,000,000, funded by [the] capital savings fund," Jemerson said, and he added that "the fundraising for phase 1 is nearly complete, and phase 2 should be completed sometime by the end of this year." Phase 1 includes the Brookside and Rudasill branches; phase 2 includes Owasso and the South Broken Arrow branch, Jemerson said.

The new Rudasill design shown to commissioners would be a two‑story building sited near Greenwood and just north of B.S. Roberts Park. Jemerson said the main public entrance will face away from adjacent residences to limit through‑traffic into the neighborhood. The presentation included renderings and a room‑by‑room walk‑through of planned spaces.

Key features Jemerson described include an African American Resource Center adjacent to the main circulation desk, a dedicated children’s wing with an exterior patio and garage door for tricycles and scooters, a teen space, a computer lab with roughly a dozen public stations and subscription genealogy databases, and a new public maker space. The design also includes an audio recording lab for public use, a small gift shop, and several small "huddle" study rooms. Jemerson said staff intend to keep named rooms that currently exist at the branch, including the Greenwood Arch and Pine Room.

Upstairs will be the BOK Harmony Hall, a divisible event room funded in part by a large Bank of Oklahoma gift Jemerson described as “one of the largest contributions” the library system has received. He said BOK Harmony Hall can be used for lectures or banquet seating, that the hall can be partitioned into roughly two 200‑person rooms, and that the full room can hold about 420 people when configured for lectures; in banquet layout one half seats about 92.

Jemerson also said the library will include local history collections and programming tied to Greenwood and the Black Wall Street legacy. He said the branch will house oral histories collected by Eddie Faye Gates and photographs by Don Thompson, and it will continue to provide access to the Dawes Rolls and other ancestry resources. He described a plan to display artifacts found during University of Tulsa fieldwork at the site.

Construction, Jemerson said, began in December and "should be finished by this time next year." He told commissioners the city and library held town halls and feasibility meetings with municipal leaders, chambers of commerce and neighborhood stakeholders before finalizing design priorities, and that community input drove choices such as genealogy resources and a dedicated audio lab.

During a short question-and-answer period, commissioners and attendees asked what will happen to the existing Rudasill building; Jemerson said no final decision has been made and the library commission intends that any future owner be a "good neighbor." He said the project team did environmental and engineering clearances for the site and that the University of Tulsa conducted ground surveys; items found during that work are planned for display in the new building.

Jemerson encouraged people to follow the campaign at the My Library, Our Future website for updates on timelines and fundraising. He closed the presentation and took questions from the commission.

The presentation did not include any formal vote or council action; it was informational and focused on design, fundraising status and the planned program mix for the new Rudasill Regional Library.