New library cuts ribbon in Gray

Saturday was a good day for readers, both young and old, as the ribbon was cut on the new Gray Branch Library at 533 Sid Martin Road, on the right side of the old Citi Building. The library staff was out in force, not only cutting the ribbon and thanking everyone involved in bringing the dream to a reality. Others staff members like Phyllis Hooper, who has been with the Washington County Library for 17 years, and Tracy Clark, who has been with the library for 10 years, were at their assigned desks, helping get patrons registered and books returned. Watching the large crowd comfortably checking out the new county asset was Washington County Mayor Joe Grandy. He said the branch was the cornerstone of the county's vision on serving the community. Even through the library was more crowded on ribbon cutting day that on a normal day at the library, it was clear that the careful thought had been made in making the branch library efficient and accessible. "It took a while to get this done, but the result is worth the wait," Grandy said. It was evident that the library branch for Gray far surpasses the county's earliest efforts at providing library services to the community. Long-time librarians and patrons spoke about the bookmobile that was stationed in Gray back in the 1960's. The new facility has 15,000 square-feet of space, but it does not just rely on space to fulfill its mission. Grandy introduced two key players that made the project work. One was the planner of the space, David Vinjamuri, president of ThirdWay Space and associate professor of marketing at New York University. He is also author of several books on the subject, including Library Space Planning: A PLA Guide. The second man introduced by Grandy was Brian Alderson, senior architect with Thompson & Little. Vinjamuri, who has planned library spaces in 26 states, from Florida to Alaska, said the most important consideration in planning a modern library is to design for flexibility, allowing the library to change and adapt to changing demands from the patrons. That flexibility and the demonstration that the plans for adapting the library's space to the needs of the patrons was already being demonstrated in plain view of anyone standing in the main room of the library. At a large table, a group of children were busy writing love letters to the library. These children were homeschoolers from Gray who frequently visit the library in their studies. Their need for the library is well known to the Washington County library officials like Laurie Levknecht, chairperson of the Washington County Library Board, and Christy Widner, library servicer manager. "Homeschoolers don't have a school library," Widner said. The needs of teens was rethought and went into the plan as was seen on ribbon cutting day. Widner said this is a facility that houses 35,000 books in regular and large print, e-books, audio books, DVDs and STEAM kits for use by the public.