Georgia: “Fulton County to Renovate Historic Central Library, Not Build New”
From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Fulton County commissioners voted Wednesday to spend up to $55 million to renovate Atlanta’s Central Library, scuttling plans to build a new facility downtown.
The decision brings to an end months of debate over whether the county should keep the iconic building near Peachtree Center that has fallen into disrepair and is now considered too large for the library’s needs.
“There’s no political will for a new library,” Fulton County Chairman John Eaves said. “There was growing support for staying where we are. We’re good public officials. We’re certainly willing to listen.”
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In addition to the renovation of Central Library, the county also intends to spend between $45 and $50 million to renovate 15 branches. There is $104 million remaining from the original $275 million referendum. The rest was spent on new branches and other renovations.
Those renovations get far less attention than Central Library, library director Gabriel Morley said, but are critically important to library users.
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About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.