Recently compared to a chef about to get a brand-new gourmet kitchen, Judy Kaplan equates herself to an expectant mother.
Branch manager of Baltimore County?s Rosedale library, Kaplan said plans for $1 million in renovations are like giving birth to a bundle of joy.
“You know you are going to have a baby at the end of nine months ? there is the excitement of knowing there will be a huge reward,” Kaplan said. “A great reward for the community.”
The dated library, on Kenwood Avenue near the Baltimore Beltway and Interstate 95, closed for a single day Thursday as crews worked to downsize it into a “mini-library” during the major makeover. Plans include two glass-enclosed tutoring rooms with wireless computer access, a quiet room with study carrels, a children?s and teen area, plus new carpeting and shelving.
Outside, architects plan to replace the white concrete facade with terra-cotta.
But the project?s centerpiece, Kaplan said, is a $600,000 “Storyville,” a playroom designed to encourage early literacy skills and a Baltimore County exclusive.
“A lot of children are entering school without knowing what many of us who are newspaper readers already knew ? colors, understanding rhymes and able to match things,” Kaplan said. “The goal of Storyville is that when children use it, they enter school adequately prepared.”
County officials said they expect to reopen the full-scale library by November and Storyville by January.
The makeover comes just one month after the county reopened an expanded Pikesville branch. County Executive Jim Smith and lawmakers have prioritized library renovations as the county?s population and facilities age.
“The facility improvements we?re seeing throughout the library system right now are breathtaking, and we couldn?t be more pleased,” library system spokesman Bob Hughes said.
