Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
Construction crews continue to work last month on the site for the new Charles County Public Library branch, off O'Donnell Place in Waldorf.
Construction of the Waldorf West Library branch is now nearly 55 percent complete.
“I’ve been here 15 years, and for the board of trustees and me, an expansion of the library system was our dream,” Charles County Public Library Director Emily Ferren said, staring up at the shiny, unfinished building. “And now it’s going to happen.”
As the construction of the 31,000-square-foot library plows toward completion, library-goers have a lot to get excited about.
The library is a direct response to what the community has been asking for from the library system, Ferren said.
“They wanted more resources, they wanted more space, they wanted more programs, so we are trying to respond to those needs,” she said.
Located on Smallwood Drive, just minutes from the St. Charles Towne Center mall, the library will be right in the population center.
“We want it to be accessible, instead of having it way out somewhere where you have to drive to it,” said Harry Shasho, director of Shasho Consulting. “That way it'll get more use.”
Shasho is a contractor handling real estate issues on the project.
The new branch will double the current size of the Charles County library system. While they will be continuing the book-sharing system among the other three library branches in La Plata, east Waldorf and Bryans Road, they also will be purchasing new materials for Waldorf West, Ferren said.
In addition, the branch will feature Charles County’s very first drive-thru book drop, for readers on the go.
The first floor of the library will have a large meeting room, a café area, a children’s room and a lobby with an atrium and an art frieze of historical Charles County buildings.
“We’re going to have a mix of the technology along with the history of Charles County,” Ferren said. “So, I think it will be a really nice mix.”
Throughout the building there will be a train theme and the children’s room, which is shaped like a train car, will have an installed electric train, which will run at the beginning of each story time, Ferren said.
There are also hopes for an outdoor area, where children’s programs can take place when the weather is agreeable.
On the second floor, there are plans for a designated teen area in which small group study could take place, and a reference and business center, which will have a small conference room and be equipped with fax machines, printers and computers.
Programs that Ferren said she hopes to feature at the library include story time, author’s visits, magic shows, puppet shows and educational programs such as Reptile World.
The library is next to where the Friday night summer concert series takes place at O’Donnell Lake, and Ferren expressed hopes that the library will be able to host indoor concerts during the winter.
The building itself, on a budget of $10.8 million coming from the county and a capital grant from the Maryland Department of Education, will be a certified green building, based on the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
Jeffrey Morgan, owner and architect of Morgan Design Group, explained the basic idea of LEED certification.
“Basically, it means the building’s energy-efficient and minimizes the pollution of our natural resources,” he said.
He said that in order to be LEED-certified, there are more than 30 different regulations the building had to meet; for example, all of the products that are used in the construction of the building must come from less than 500 miles away to minimize the footprint of the building process.
While project supervisors declined to give estimates as to its opening date, Ferren anticipates the opening of the new branch to increase the current number of active library users 79,000 by at least 10 percent. As she begins to prepare for the opening, she encourages the community to do the same.
“What we're hoping is that people get their cards before the library opens,” she exclaimed. “You know, get the card now beat the rush!”
rheller@somdnews.com