LaFAYETTE, Ga. – Library officials are preparing for massive renovations at two North Georgia community libraries.
A combined total of about $5 million of work is planned for the LaFayette-Walker County Public Library and the Dade County Public Library. Dade’s work is set to begin within the month while LaFayette’s renovations are still being designed.
On Friday, library officials gathered between rows of periodicals and fiction at the LaFayette library for a ceremony to celebrate securing the money for the projects.
PDF: LaFayatte library floorplanPDF: Dade library floorplan
“The funding structure was a symphony of timing, budgeting and opportunity,” said Lecia Eubanks, director of North Georgia’s Cherokee Regional Library System, which oversees the two libraries.
The library system will pay for the projects with a mix of proceeds from 1-cent sales taxes in both Dade and Walker counties and in the cities of LaFayette and Trenton, as well as an appropriation from the state and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
While plans aren’t final, the LaFayette renovations will add 7,000 square feet to the library, making way for more technology and remaking the building’s exterior. The Dade project, which is further along in the process, will add 4,000 square feet, also making room for more computers.
The Dade branch will close and move into a temporary location on Oct. 11. The temporary branch on South Main Street, located in the former CVS pharmacy, will open Oct. 25 while renovation work at the library itself is under way.
In LaFayette on Friday, beneath 1960s-era lighting above worn mauve carpet inside a white-brick building, one customer said the facility needs a revamp.
“I’m an aficionado of all libraries, and this place has needed to expand and grow with the community, and it hasn’t done that until now,” said Jack Beckman, a Chickamauga, Ga., resident who was checking out three books. “The architecture is just ancient, and it’s in need of an update.”
Regional library officials have claimed increased visitation in recent years. The state’s librarian says across Georgia, more than 44 million people visited library branches last year.
State librarian Lamar Veatch praised the Cherokee Library System, which oversees the LaFayette, Dade, Chickamauga and Rossville public libraries.
“This library, this library system … are just shining stars among Georgia’s libraries,” he said.