CIRCLE PINES, Minn. – (Aug. 10, 2017) – The Centennial branch of the Anoka County Library will be getting a major upgrade. The library is located in Circle Pines and will undergo a complete renovation and large expansion in an effort to meet the needs of the community.
“We have long ago outgrown this branch. This branch was built in 1986, it is about 6,300 square feet, and we just don’t have enough space,” said Maggie Snow, the director of Anoka County Library.
“We need more space for the staff to work. We need more public seating; we need more meeting rooms. People are working together differently now, so we are looking for some conference spaces, small spaces for people to work, just more seating. Expand the children’s area, we have got a lot of young families who use this space, so we are just looking to make everything a little bit bigger and a little more elbow room.”
Citizens gathered at the library this week to see a first draft of the expansion plans and to offer feedback to the library staff and architects. The plans may change as a result of the feedback, but one thing is for certain. This library will be bigger after the project is done.
“We are going to expand this building as large as we possibly can on the property that we have here, keep the structure, just change a few things in the current structure and then add on in almost every direction,” Maggie said.
How people access information continues to change, and libraries are trying to keep up with that change. In Anoka County, the library system offers many resources online and also is committed to teaching people how to use those new resources.
“Really a community gathering space it’s a place for people to work together in small groups, it’s a place to come in relax and read, it’s a place to learn new things. We got a lot of programs that go on; we got a lot of new services, a lot of classes that we teach here at the library. So it’s really just a place of infinite opportunity and learning,” said Snow.
There is still time to submit your feedback about the planned renovation and expansion of the Centennial Library. Here is a link to a survey that citizens can take. The construction will not begin until September of 2018. The library will be closed during construction, and they expect to reopen in the spring of 2019.
