SUFFOLK, Va. — The new downtown Suffolk library is weeks away from opening its doors, and library leaders say the facility was designed with the entire community in mind.
The library opens June 27.
Teen and children's areas, large meeting rooms, and additional resources are located on the first floor. The second floor features a digital maker lab, quiet reading areas, and an outdoor patio.
Minerva Hernandez Garcia, assistant director of libraries for the city of Suffolk, said the new facility has been a long time coming.
"It's been a long time coming, we say the library our community deserves," Hernandez Garcia said.
Hernandez Garcia said the library offers more than books.
"People think libraries are books that we are sitting here reading but really people are coming here to get the resources that they can't anywhere else," Hernandez Garcia said.
Clint Rudy, director of libraries for Suffolk, said every part of the building was designed with community needs in mind.
"We really created this space so that it's really theirs and lots of inner activity lots of space for them to connect with each other," Rudy said.
Rudy said the building includes a variety of spaces to meet different needs.
"We have um ten study spaces two downstairs and eight up here and then we have the digital maker lab," Rudy said.
He said the library reflects how the role of libraries has evolved.
"Libraries are different than what some people think of from their childhood. there's lots of noise, what you can see lots of activity. So, we needed to create a space that could be for quiet, so this is our quiet reading room," Rudy said.
Hernandez Garcia said library leaders are looking forward to welcoming the community when the doors open.
"We are really excited to be able to offer them a space that's really theirs and that they can make their own," Hernandez Garcia said.
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