BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION -- A library under construction on U.S. 42 will offer everything from Internet access and public meeting space to a children's section and more than 35,000 new materials.
The library, at U.S. 42 and Braxton Drive, will be 35,000 square feet when it opens in a year.
The $4 million project is funded with money Boone County library officials saved once they realized a new facility was needed several years ago. Union residents now use the library on U.S. 42 in Florence, which will remain open.
"We were fortunate to have some land donated to us for this development in Union," said Lucinda Brown, director of the Boone County Public Library District.
"The building (in Florence) we are currently in is 22 years old, and it's not 12,000 square feet total. It parks 40 or 42 cars. The building was just not designed for what libraries have to offer today," said Ms. Brown.
The Boone County Public Library District also includes the Lents Branch in Hebron and the Walton Branch on Main Street. Ms. Brown said library service in Boone County began in October 1974 with a small library on Girard Street in Florence.
"This is going to give us one more convenient location for a large population," she said. "The Union area is one of the fastest-growing areas in the region."
Ground was broken for the library in October. It will include presentation rooms, rooms for people who want "quiet study" or want to use a laptop computer, about 150 parking spaces, and between 35,000 and 50,000 items.
"We will be offering an entirely separate children's library or youth library away from the adult space so that noise isn't a concern," Ms. Brown said.
