Jackie Johnson is a happy woman. This month she’ll return to one of her favorite places in Lake Highlands, a place she has missed for more than a year. The waiting, she says, hasn’t been easy.
“I didn’t think I could stand it for a whole year,” Johnson says. “I can hardly wait to get back there.”
The place is the Audelia Road Library, closed for expansion and renovations since last February. Before its closing, Johnson had walked from her home to the library many times over the years, for many reasons.
“I’m a big reader, so I’d sit in the reading area quite a bit,” she says.
“I’d read business magazines and ValueLine, mostly to keep up with my stocks. And I read a lot of fiction, both new and the classics, along with all the gardening magazines and poetry. I’ve also taken a computer class there.”
Being such a regular, it’s easy to understand why Johnson was none too thrilled when she heard the branch would close.
“When they said they were going to do something to it, I said, ‘You don’t need to change a thing, because it’s fine as it is. This library’s great.’”
Plenty of other people in the area must have felt the same way, because the branch had the highest traffic of any in the Dallas library system. And that’s exactly why it was closed for construction, says facilities coordinator David Darnell.
“It’s our most heavily used branch, and it had far outgrown its size,” he says.
Enlargement was not among the original construction plans for the branch. As part of the 1998 bond program, it was meant to receive $700,000 in renovations only. But when members of the library system reviewed the physical condition of the branch along with its usage, they realized a facelift wasn’t what the branch needed. With all of the users, it had to be bigger.
So money was moved around; renovations to other branches were postponed. And $3 million and a year or so later, Audelia Road Library is practically a whole new facility.
“When people walk in, they won’t recognize it at all from what the old building was,” Darnell says. “It will be that different – like a brand new community.”
Some of the primary changes include the main reading area, made lighter and brighter with all new furniture and décor and with almost 50 percent more space. The children’s area is especially inviting, with a colorful wall mural and steps leading to a window seat for storytelling.
The technology inside also received a boost, with a new PC reservation system for the 25 new computer workstations, more than double the previous number and the largest number of any branch in the system. And patrons can use the new self-checkout system, to be introduced later at other branches if it’s well received.
A brand new building houses the new auditorium, which will host a variety of classes, meetings and reading clubs. It will seat more than 140 people, compared to the 80-or-so the old one held, and with its own kitchen and bathrooms will allow a wider variety of community programs to be held there.
It’s just one of the ways that manager Sherri Lazenby hopes the branch will return to being a vital of the community.
“The Audelia Road Library has always been an important part of the community, and we’re looking forward to being that again, and ever more so,” she says.
“We want to be more of a cultural part of the community, where school kids can display their talents, be it in art, choir, all kinds of things. We really want to draw in our families and community members, and I think the renovations will give us a lot more flexibility to do that.”
Johnson, who’s sure to be among the first to see the new facility, says she welcomes the new-and-improved library once again becoming an active part of the Lake Highlands community. Because to her, a library is not only a part of a community, but an important part of our society.
“It’s my opinion that a good library is the basis of democracy,” she says. “You need to read and stay informed about what’s going on around you, and the library is where you can do that.”
