![]() New meeting rooms, remodeled auditorium and event space for up to 800 respond to the community’s desire to have multiple places to meet and engage. The Children’s Area is in the same location as before, but now it is put on full display, visible from the atrium as a means of drawing parents and children in. On the opposite side, the main entrance along South Grant Avenue is returned to its previous prominence engaging the expansive front lawn. The recent renovation replaced the stone-clad walls with glass curtain walls, creating a physical connection through the library from west to east that opens on to Topiary Park-the result is a library in a park. It shifted the role of the original 1901 Carnegie library building as the formal entrance, and the function of the grand front lawn on South Grant Avenue. The focus on user experience informs everything from the building layouts to staffing and special events.Ī previous addition to the Main Library was built in the early 1990s that focused on housing collections to the exclusion of the public experience, with opaque walls and heavily tinted windows that separated it from its surroundings. These buildings in various architectural styles are located in some of the highest-need communities in greater Columbus, and the CML is committed to literacy and learning outreach into these neighborhoods. ![]() With a motto of “Creating Libraries that Change Lives,” the CML is in the midst of building or dramatic refurbishment of seven urban and two suburban libraries. It is a reborn library for the internet age. Both the print and digital collections are “put on display” in the library, making them more accessible to patrons and staff alike and putting the architecture in the service of the library’s mission. The new Main Library has visual transparency that beckons patrons to enter the library and provides views to the surrounding park space and city, resulting in a fresh new experience of Carnegie’s architectural treasure and of the work of the local artist Aminah Robinson. The comprehensive renovation aimed at forging alliances with the community through programs and spaces, connecting to an adjacent park and new front lawn and building a world-class children’s area. The Columbus Metropolitan Library, one of the most vibrant library systems in the country and past winner of the “National Library of the Year” award, has a newly refurbished Main Library building that re-opened in June 2016.
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