The Rainier Beach Branch, which had been closed since August 2015 for building maintenance and interior renovations, is now re-opened! The renovation project included replacing the roof on an older section of the building; installing beautiful new carpet, paint and furniture; and creating more flexible and useful spaces for children, teens, adults and families. The Library also reconfigured the interior layout to create flexible spaces for children, teens and adults.
The interior changes at the Rainier Beach Branch are part of City Librarian Marcellus Turner’s vision for The Seattle Public Library. One of his five service priorities is “reimagined spaces” – creating new uses for spaces in our libraries to better meet the changing needs and expectations of patrons.
One of the biggest changes patrons will notice is the openness of the new floor plan, as well as the bright new lighting. A “quiet zone” has been established in the adult area, a new Friends of the Library Multipurpose Room has been added, and a lobby seating area has been installed where patrons can eat and charge devices.
Another interior addition is the new Digital Media Studio, where patrons can use Adobe Creative Suite software on Library computers to edit videos and music, touch up photos and create graphics. Additional software for developing video games and graphic manipulation will be added in the future.
The branch will also have some new devices available for checkout – six laptops and two iPads will be available for patrons to use in the branch.