The Monroe County Public Library will host a grand opening for its southwest branch June 9 at 2 p.m.
The new library is located at 890 West Gordon Pike, just southwest of Batchelor Middle School. The building, including the garage, is 42,000 square feet.
Read more: New Monroe County library to open early 2023
The branch will include a teaching kitchen, a teen room, multiple conference rooms and more. There will also be an amphitheater: a place open to the public, with outdoor seating and vegetation.
“Because we’re building something from scratch, we can be very, very intentional with the design,” MCPL director Grier Carson said. “We can do not only our own story-times and library-related programs but we can do public performances - we can partner with Jacobs, we can partner with the schools, we can partner with independent performers throughout the community - do some outdoor performances that we simply can’t do anywhere else.”
Carson said there will be a ribbon cutting, musical performances, a few tours and demonstrations at next week’s grand opening. He said the branch will give the library a greater presence in town and allow more people to access its resources.
“Patrons will be able to identify with and connect with a new branch location as their primary library,” Carson said. “Access is enhanced.”
Christine Matheu, president of Matheu Architects and one of the main architects of the new branch, said she worked with the library to come up with a plan for the Southwest branch.
Read more: Monroe Co. Public Library's third branch under construction, to be completed early 2023
They started in 2018 with a feasibility study that included interviewing the community to see what they wanted the library to include as well as identifying the cost and plot of land to begin construction.
“The southwest quadrant of the county was underserved in terms of the access to library offerings, in particular for instance computers,” Matheu said. “A lot of areas down in the southwest quadrant do not have internet.”
Matheu said one of the early challenges her crew faced was dealing with adjusting where the building was going to be located. They had to move it further east to avoid a round-a-bout and, in the process, had to take into account a hillier terrain. Once this was clarified, they began construction, installing wooden furniture and an amphitheater.
“We really made a point of making this building feel like it belongs, and we carried through the theme of the natural environment throughout the building,” Matheu said. “Imagine yourself being a part of the woods.”