By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Over the past two weeks, Grand Haven's Loutit District Library has transitioned from its home of 40 years to a temporary location at 1051 S. Beacon Blvd., where it will serve patrons for the next 18 months while the library's permanent building is gutted, expanded and renovated.
The library at 407 Columbus will nearly double in size with an $11.4 million renovation that includes a 21,000-square-foot addition. Library Director Sandie Knes says the revamped building will open the door for library patrons to use their library in new, exciting ways.
"As we've added materials like audio books, music CDs, and DVDs, we've had to make room by taking away things like study tables and quiet reading areas," Knes says. "I'm excited that we're going to have more room for people to come in and read, study, and congregate."
Designers plan an Arts and Crafts-style environment with lots of warm oak trim, comfortable seating around a fireplace, a study room, and a 27-foot ceiling in a lobby topped with clerestory windows.
Separate meeting rooms for teens, children, and adults enable the library to offer multiple programs at the same time. Other amenities include a new public computer space and a separate computer lab for education and training.
"Our vision is to partner with nonprofits and organizations that don't have computer labs, to bring them in to use ours," Knes adds.
The local history/genealogy room features special humidity controls and an environmentally controlled storage area to preserve fragile historic documents. Designers will furnish the room with refurbished furniture from the library's original location in the Carnegie Building.
Source: Sandie Knes, Loutit District Library
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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