Best of Friends Friends of the Durham Library Newsletter
Spring 2010
Above: Construction of Southwest Library. Right: South Regional Library.
New Regional Libraries Set to Open This Summer
M
uch to the excitement of community members and staff alike, two regional libraries will open this summer.
The newly renovated Southwest Regional is scheduled to open on May 24, and South Regional (which is located at S. Alston Avenue and NC 54) is scheduled to open in June or July. The library will kick off the new regionals with a fourhour Grand Open House at each location. Southwest Regional will open with 15,000 additional square feet, a dedicated space for teens, a sizable AV collection, many more computers and more parking spaces. The new meeting room will seat 100 people, and there will be a vending area so library customers can get coffee or snacks. The renovation preserves some of the best features of the original building, while adding glass-walled spaces and skylights that allow for beautiful views outdoors and much more light inside. Southwest Regional, like all the new libraries, will incorporate continued on page 3
Why Regionals and Not Branches? Do you know the difference between a branch and a regional library? Unlike banks, which use the term “branch” interchangeably with the word “location,” in the library world a branch is a specific kind of facility. Branches are usually smaller and have limited services. A branch library system depends on the existence of a central library where many more items are housed and more services are offered. Regionals, on the other hand, have almost all of the same services as the main or central library, and they have a sizable collection. Our regional library system means that members of our community will have access to greatly enhanced library services, right in their own neighborhood.