The Mary Vinson Memorial Library officially reopened and debuted its newly renovated space Jan. 6 to the community.
Middle Georgia Regional Library Director Jennifer Lautzenheiser toured people around the new space prior to the official opening ceremony. According to Lautzenheiser, the building’s orientation was completely changed with the renovation. The Local History Room was moved downstairs to make it easily accessible. The Young Adult Room was moved upstairs in the history room’s former location allowing more open space and the windows to bring in natural light to the environment. A private study room was also added upstairs near the Young Adult Room and a meeting space was added downstairs for community use. The meeting space was furnished by Friends of the Library.
“This is a historic building, I believe to be about 40 years old, transformed into a modern library to serve a modern community,” said Lautzenheiser. “One of the challenges of a modern library is that we need to function as a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens and also a launch pad for the talented aspirations of our community members and young people. We strongly believe this facility has been made to do that for many years.”
BTBB Inc. designed the first major renovation to the Mary Vinson Memorial Library and Dire Construction completed the job, finishing the plans on time and under budget.
“Will Stanford (principal architect at BTBB) came in and said ‘Let’s shift it’ and I just couldn’t imagine it. Once it got on paper, it made perfect sense,” said Lautzenheiser. “When people came in, they were greeted by a circulation desk. Youth used to have to enter staff areas to access the Young Adult Room.
Behind that desk used to be a maze of closets and rooms used for staff that we cannot today imagine asking someone to work in.”
The renovation was funded through a Capital Outlay Grant provided by the Georgia Public Library Service and donations by Friends of the Library.
“I remember as I was a kid coming in here, somebody had to take you by the hand and lead you to the places that you needed to go because it was confusing to try to get to the right spot. And certainly we are thankful for the design that the architects have come up with that have allowed this to be a much more usable space,” said chair of the Twin Lakes Library Board Cameron Williams. “ I want to assure you that the board is doing all that we can to be good stewards of taxpayer resources and the money that is allotted for the use of this facility.”
According to District 3 Commissioner Sammy Hall, the district the library is located in, taxpayers pay 60% of the operations of the library. He also stated that SPLOST tax paid about $500,000 of the renovation costs.
“We hope that the library will continue to be as well used as it has been in the past and even grow more,” said Hall.
Georgia Public Library Service State Librarian Julie Walker also shared a few words, noting that the new space felt “fresh, gorgeous, and simple” and called it an “elegant building.”
“Congratulations to the entire community for this wonderful achievement.
I’m so happy for all of you,” Walker told citizens in the audience.
Closing the ceremony, Lautzenheiser presented Hall and Walker with a piece of the former carpet that once marked the walls of the building.
“We can’t talk about this renovation without mentioning the carpet on the walls,” joked Lautzenheiser. “It must have been a novel invention for sound control 40 years ago but definitely outlasted its time here.
And now it will be a piece of what was and what is transformed.”
The ceremony closed with citizens being invited to join a scavenger hunt leading them on a tour of the new building.
“We have some great leadership and staff here at the library and, although this facility is great, the real magic comes from the people that are in here that are teaching our youth, teaching our adult literacy programs, and really working behind the scenes to make this a special place that is a much-needed resource for our community,” said Williams. “We cannot wait to see its future.”