Residents of the north Edmonton neighbourhood of Calder will have a new state-of-the-art facility to borrow books, movies and music from starting next week.
The Edmonton Public Library’s (EPL) Calder branch is set to open its new location at 12710 131 Ave. N.W. on Jan. 31.
The new location is just a few blocks away from the old one which has served about 20,000 residents since 1992. The EPL said the branch, located in a strip mall, didn’t meet the “growing demands for study and community space” so it built the new location, a stand-alone 10,000-square-foot building, which is nearly double the size of the old one.
“We’re in a really tight location right now, and we’re kind of all on top of each other,” Calder branch manager Julie Woods said on Monday. “It will be nice for us to spread out and just have more space for people to utilize and come in and just make the space their own.”
The new library was designed to be “an engaging space” and has green space nearby, a larger community room, a fireplace, a freshwater aquarium and other new features.
The facility also has 17 public computers with free Wi-Fi as well as three early literacy stations.
View a photo gallery of the new Calder library below:
“We’re in desperate need of a new space for sure,” Woods said.” I’m really just excited for our customers to come in and get to see it.
“I hope they take ownership of it and find a spot in the branch that they really like and enjoy and can come in everyday and utilize our services.”
Woods said the Calder branch is very busy and has a lot of regulars, including teens and pre-teens who come in after school everyday.
READ MORE: New renderings show Edmonton’s Stanley A. Milner Library after revitalization
Watch below: On Jan. 3, 2017, Gord Steinke sat down with Richard Thornley to find out what it took to open Edmonton’s temporary downtown library location as the Stanley A. Milner location undergoes renovations.