IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers Construction continues at the Grant Brimhall/Thousand Oaks Library The initial step to build what could be a $30-million, two-story 40,000-square-foot addition to the Grant Brimhall Library in Thousand Oaks has been taken by the Thousand Oaks Library Foundation.

"This is the very, very first step," library director Steve Brogden said.

On Jan. 4, the group approved a site for a structure to hold library collections that include the documentation of the career of radio legend Norman Corwin. The library has his correspondence, scrapbooks, radio and television scripts, motion picture screenplays, sound recordings, video recordings, photographs, business records and contracts, press clippings, and other documents, most dating from 1938 to1990.

A collection of musical scores, scripts, letters, scrapbooks, recordings and photographs of the late entertainer Rudy Vallee may also be included in the proposed new wing.

The next step is for the foundation to talk to the Conejo Recreation and Park District, the library's landlord, to get their official approval, Brogden said.

The library director met with City Manager Scott Mitnick and Assistant City Manager Linda Pappas Díaz on Jan. 5 to keep the city apprised of what is going on, Brogden said.

The site selected is at the northeast end of the library on the side of the administrative offices. Outside is a parking lot for employees. Though the plans are very preliminary, Brogden said, the expansion could eliminate about 15 employee spaces that he doesn't think will be missed.

The funds for the $30-million new building will come from a national campaign, former foundation president Roy Thorsen said.

Helping to raise those funds will be former City Manager Grant Brimhall, for whom the library is named, and former mayor and current foundation president Frances Prince.

"It's interesting to note when Frances Prince was mayor in 1978 she signed the original lease for the land the city leases for the library from the park district for $1," Brimhall said.

Together, Prince, Brimhall, Thorsen, Brogden and foundation members are going to work together to add to what Brimhall described as an outstanding infrastructure.

The group hopes to include the Conejo Valley Historical Collection in the new building, along with a valuable collection of radio archives from the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, now being housed in a sealed room in the basement of a bank at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood.

That irreplaceable collection of photographs and transcripts of early radio programs may have been contaminated, Thorsen said. In 2004, an underground transformer from the water and power department exploded across the street from the bank, causing a fire and sending smoke into the bank building.

"We don't know if it is contaminated or not," Brogden said.

If it is, it will be cleaned up before being brought to Thousand Oaks, he said. The collection will be protected in a humidity and temperaturecontrolled environment in the library.

Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters claims on its website to have accumulated one of the largest private collections of memorabilia pertaining to the history of radio broadcasting. They also note that when their collections and the library's are combined, the result will be the largest collection of radio material in the United States.

"This will be a major accomplishment that will be a lasting and significant resource not just for the community, but for the nation," Brimhall said.