This is the first of two grand openings for Project Grace, since the museum section of the building won’t open until next summer.
The library itself is cavernous — cathedral-height ceilings with set in lights, designed to deaden sound and accommodate the roughly 100,000 items available. But the library isn’t a stereotypically quiet place anymore, says library director Dana Conners.
"They think it's that shushy quiet place, or a place for old ladies to check out books," Conners says. "But we have stuff here for everyone: all age groups, programs, books, materials, computers, resources on our computers, and more importantly, we serve as a place where people can come and be with other people.”
The building is 98,000 square feet, with the library side full of spaces to sit, including laptop bars, couches, and a teen room with cushy chairs and video game systems on order. The children’s section is on the ground floor, adult and teens upstairs. And there’s a lot of natural light.
The floor-to-ceiling windows have white stripes running down them. "It's fretting to keep birds from flying into it," Conners explains. "It also reduces some of the solar impact, or the sun's heat coming in, and it's meant to mimic the pages of a book.”
Conners thinks the library's expanded offerings will make it the most popular of the county's branches, whereas the old downtown branch was only the third most popular. With more study rooms and computers, a large and dedicated children's room, activity spaces, and plenty of computers, she believes this new and improved version has something for everyone.
The Carolina room also got an expansion: The full local history collection and archive is now all housed in one space, and there are rolling, condensed shelves to keep it all in one room. The building is also home to the second-largest elevator on the East Coast, meant to help the museum unload display items. County Communications Coordinator Alex Riley says, "There are apartments in Wilmington that are smaller."
The library’s grand opening is Monday, Oct 6 at 2 p.m, and members of the public are invited to come check it out — and check out a book or two while you’re there. And for those of you who have books that have run overdue since the branch closed — fear not, the county doesn't charge late fees, so just bring them back in.
