Early last month, on a snowy Saturday morning, Rudi and I awoke early and hustled the eight blocks to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony that marked the re-opening of the renovated West End Branch Library.
Included amongst the speakers were Colbert King, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who grew up on the spot where the library now sits.
As you may be able to see in the upper photo there, he is also included in the “Paragons of the West End” mural by Adrienne Gaither that adorns the main room of the library. Other neighborhood luminaries named in the mural include Walt Whitman, Duke Ellington, Petey Greene, Lena Horne, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The kids’ room gets its own mural too. This is “A Garden Party” by Nekisha Durrett. My apologies for the weird angle; I was trying hard not to capture any kids in the picture (there are weirdos on the internet) and there was a story time going on in front of it.
These are the end caps of the stacks in the children’s room. Aren’t they cool?
I was at the branch today and overheard one of the children’s room librarians tell a young patron that during the first real snowstorm we get, they’re going to build snowmen in the courtyard.
Overall, I’m just really excited to have the West End Library back in the neighborhood and expect to spend many hours there checking out books and attending events. I can’t wait!
(Click through to Flickr to see a bigger version of that shot.)
Wonderful remodel! I just love my local library, but these photos are just beautiful! It looks like a place I could spend hours on end!
Comment by AsKatKnits 01.16.18 @ 9:50 am[…] been wanting to visit for years (Tasty!) and having some tea at the fancy coffee place next to the library that just opened yesterday. Disappointingly, it turns out they’re a cashless establishment, […]
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