Multnomah County Library and the Southeast Portland community recently celebrated the grand opening of Holgate Library. The bright, modern facility, designed by Bora with multilingual wayfinding by Mayer/Reed, is the first new, permanent library to open in the Multnomah County Library network in more than a decade. At 21,000 square feet, it’s one of the largest.

With an emphasis on accessibility and inclusion, Multnomah County Library commissioned Mayer/Reed to design wayfinding with five languages and unique icons to invite visitors to explore the collections, programs and services. The driver for this work — the “we speak your language” approach — is a milestone change in how the library communicates with patrons. Multnomah County is the first library system in the nation to commit to this level of multilingual signage.

The comprehensive rollout across the entire library network is funded by a 2020 voter-approved bond. By the Spring of 2026, Multnomah County will see the new signage system in major renovations/replacements of seven branch locations, refreshes at other locations and a large, new East County Library (around 95,000 square feet).