Library will be beacon for learning

Label: Pinecrest

Deck

Librarians are now for the new Pinecrest Branch Library that is scheduled to open in early October. Coming up: New libraries for Kendale Lakes, Palmetto Bay, and Naranja.

Article: 6GS

BY PRISCILLA GREEAR [email protected]

They’ve unpacked 622 boxes in the last two weeks - and that’s just children’s books.

On Wednesday, staff of the new Pinecrest Branch Library unpacked more of the 30,000 new books, CDs and DVDs. And they installed computers and light wood furniture inside the airy modern Mediterranean building white walls and hunter green accents.

Directing the massive move-in is branch manager Ellen Book, who has worked in the Miami-Dade Public Library System for 21 years.

“I’m happy to open a new facility which is why I’m here,” she said, calling the new library “this beautiful facility.”

But don’t look for the library to open soon: It won’t welcome the public until early October.

There’s still a lot of work to do, Book said.

But once it opens, the library will be a beacon for learning, she said.

“We’re a safety net for those who wish to better themselves. Education doesn’t need to stop when you’re out of school,” Book said. “The library offers the chance to learn through a lifetime.”

The library, at 11000 Red Road, is next to the Pinecrest Community Center that opened earlier this summer.

With 15,000 square feet each, the Pinecrest and Kendale Lakes library branches are the largest being built as part of Miami-Dade County’s second major capital expansion, after the first in the 1970s.

In 2001, county commissioners set a goal to build 10 libraries by 2012. So far, the system has completed eight storefront libraries and expects to complete six branches by 2012, said MDPLS assistant director William Urbizu. Four more are on hold because of budget constraints, he said.

Kendale Lakes’ opening is Sept. 25, and Pinecrest’s grand opening after two years of construction is being rescheduled from Sept. 30 because of Rosh Hashanah.

The new Golden Lakes and Doral branches have already opened, and Palmetto Bay’s and Naranja’s open next year.

The Pinecrest library design is part of a new style to have lower shelves and more open spaces.

It’s “a very welcoming environment, it’s bathed in natural light, very comfortable,” Urbizu said.

TURN TO LIBRARY, 40

Continuation: 40GS

Headline: Library will be a beacon for learning

LIBRARY, FROM 6

And librarians will rove the library to provide assistance as needed, a new approach to enable the branch to provide “five-star customer service,” he said.

The building of the Pinecrest library and community center are a partnership between Pinecrest and the library system and cost about $7.3 million. The library system has paid for $3.58 million for construction plus an additional $1.2 million for furniture and other items, Urbizu said. The branch welcomes books and other requests from the community, Book said, adding that they will continually update their collections.

“We want to be as current and vibrant as possible so we don’t have dust on our books.”

The weekly story hour will start in October, and the county’s free K-12 tutoring in science, math and reading begins in January.

“We want to have bedtime stories, teen programs and we’d love to have a chess club. And we want to complement what the community center and parks are providing as far as events,” Book said. “We’ll listen to the public and have them tell us what they want.”

It will have 32 desktop computers, 20 laptops and wireless Internet. Persons can reserve materials online for express checkout. And patrons can access the four million materials of the 47 branches throughout the system.

“We see a lot of adults who come back to the library once they have children - those who haven’t used the library in a long time are always surprised at how we’ve kept up with the technology and other conveniences,” Book said.

Sharon Carpenter, who started out as a paraprofessional and last year at 50 earned her master’s degree, is delighted to become the librarian for the children’s section. She noted that they’ve already been getting people coming to donate books and ask about volunteering.

“I think Pinecrest is going to draw a lot of people from surrounding areas because it’s such a unique destination,” she added.

Next door at the center, Pinecrest director of parks and recreation Loren Matthews said, “I can’t wait until the library opens.”

And she reported that the community center already has 554 members and that most classes will start up after Labor Day.

“We’ve got people coming in on a steady basis,” Matthews said.

Book’s favorite library feature is its “wow factor.”

“It’s a beautiful triangle of one of the prettiest parks in the Southeastern United States - and you have the community center,” she added.

“Our view from every window is beautiful. [Pinecrest Mayor Gary Matzner] said if you have a garden and a library you have everything, and I totally agree with him.”

Calendar Note

For calendar and other information on the library go to www.mdpls.org or www.pinecrest-fl.gov.