COLUMBIANA A renovated public library will offer room, with a view

New parking areas will soon be available to patrons and staff.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- With a lot of new windows, there's plenty of light in the Columbiana Public Library, and light at the end of the tunnel for a $1 million, yearlong construction project.
Library Director Carol Cobbs said the construction should be finished in September.
The library will be closed for two weeks in late August so workers can lay new carpet. Through most of the construction, however, the library has remained open and staff and patrons have coped with the constant change as nearly 6,000 square feet is added. With the children's area under construction, children participating in the summer reading program sprawl on quilts and down comforters on the floor of the new adult area.
Parking inconvenience
Cobbs said the major inconvenience has been a lack of parking, but a new parking area will be created on the south side of the building.
The library board bought four homes that faced Salem Street and had them torn down. The area will be a parking lot, but there will also be a lot of landscaping.
Once the construction is completed and a large dirt pile moved, there will be an unobstructed view of the library from Salem Street.
Cobbs noted that the $1 million construction cost is paid by the sale of bonds, which Columbiana School District voters approved in May 2001.
She said all the money from the bonds sale is used in the construction and will increase the public spaces of the library. None of that money was used on staff spaces or for the purchase or demolition of the four homes, she said.
The purchase of property and demolition of the homes was paid with money the board has set aside for several years, and through donations.
Cobbs said the new parking area will be paved in the next two weeks.
The construction expands the children's, young adult and adult areas of the library and provides more room for public meetings.
Cobbs said if all goes as planned, the library will be closed the last two weeks of August. Sometime in September or early October, the staff and officials will have an open house.
In the meantime, patrons and staff can look forward to things to come.
Activities in store
In the new children's area, children's librarian Carrie Radman will conduct story-time sessions from a tree-house perch.
Children will read library books while snuggled into carpeted window-seat shadow boxes.
There will be more room for civic meetings and book clubs and special events. Teens and adults will have lots of elbow room as they search for a good book or read their favorite magazine.
Patrons will vie for time to search the Internet on 12 new computers in a new room.
Teens will have more books and more room to read them, or they can listen to compact discs using headphones.
When summer turns to fall, then winter, the library's coffee cafe will likely be a popular addition. Patrons also might choose to settle in by the fireplace -- refurbished from the old library on Elm Street -- to read awhile before heading home.
tullis@vindy.com