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New library sneak peek reveals modern amenities, broad appeal [The News Courier, Athens, Ala.](News Courier (Athens, AL) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 24--The new Athens-Limestone Public Library has some dazzling features that will appeal to the young, the computer savvy and others when it opens in November. During a guided tour of the facility off South Jefferson Street in Athens this week, Library Director Paula Laurita said she has been pleased with both the amenities and the progress of the $6.2 million two-phase effort to turn the former Kroger grocery store into a modern library. The existing library on South Street was not only too small but it also had a leaking roof, Laurita said. A sneak peek into the new library reveals some progressive features with broad appeal, including: --Walls of semi-private study nooks; --A children's room with appropriate furniture, computers, work stations, books and other media that will also be used for story time; --A teen room with appropriate media and modern furniture where youths can read and socialize; --A technology center with laptop computers, Cloud remote servers and available classes; --A local history room; --Genealogy workstations; --Open banks of public-access computers; --A family computing room with computer access and toys that can only be reserved by parents with children; --An after-hours conference room/community room that can be rented, which seats 126 people theater style and has a projector screen and a nearby catering kitchen; --A Steelcase boardroom that can be rented for meetings or other gatherings; and --Vending machine room with tables for snacking. In designing the new library's exterior, architects focused in part on making it "a gateway to the downtown area." Traces of its grocery store past are gone. In its place is a handsome, modern building that overlooks Jefferson Street. With the building's exterior finished, workers are in the homestretch of the interior overhaul. This week, they were cutting stone for the center welcome desk. Overhead, they had already dressed the ceiling, with its intentionally exposed ductwork, with lights, giving the interior a modern appeal. Recycling is a common theme throughout the library. When the reclaimed grocery store was gutted, workers saved whatever building materials they could. They even stripped old copper wire, sold it and returned the proceeds to the project, Laurita said. The spray-on insulation that covers the exposed ceiling and ductwork is recycled newspaper. There are other examples, too. What won't be saved from the old library is what Laurita referred to as "45 years of burnt-orange furniture." The local Steelcase Co. in Athens, a nationally recognized maker of what Laurita calls "the Rolls Royce of office furniture," will supply some of the new furniture. The Library Foundation is spearheading an ongoing $6 million-plus capital campaign to pay for construction, moving costs and furnishings for the 38,427-square-foot building. Laurita expects construction workers to finish by the end of October so the library can open to the public sometime in November. ___ (c)2014 The News Courier (Athens, Ala.) Visit The News Courier (Athens, Ala.) at enewscourier.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |