"Iconic" and "flexible" are two words that describe the new Foley (Ala.) Public Library, according to David Thompson, the facility's executive director of leisure services.
"We want an iconic building that, when people drive by, they see it, and they want to go there, and it becomes a gathering place, a community place," Thompson said in a news release announcing the construction of the new library in early 2024. The facility is slated to open to the public in 2025.
The $20 million project will be "the most expensive building we've ever done in the city of Foley," Thompson told AL.com in December.
Most of the project's financing will be from loans, plus $2 million in state funding appropriated and secured by Alabama Rep. Jerry Carl, R-1st District. Building the library was a re-election campaign priority for Mayor Ralph Hellmich in 2012, according to Al.com, a statewide online news source.
The site for the new building is off Orange Avenue, approximately two blocks south of the current library on East Laurel Avenue near Foley City Hall.
Foley Needs Library For Expanding Population
Thompson said the goal is to have a library that over the next decade "can adapt and change to the changing needs of our community and our users."
He added that he is excited about working with the building's designer, Williams Blackstock Architects in Birmingham, because the firm has been able to plan precisely what the library needs and wants within one two-story, nearly 40,000-sq.-ft. structure.
"Our library has been kind of busting at the seams for a couple of years," Thompson explained, noting that Foley's current 21,000-sq.-ft. building, erected in the 1980s, now serves approximately 3,500 active cardholders.
Additionally, Al.com noted that census data shows the city, close to the popular Alabama Gulf Coast, has also been bursting at the seams in terms of population growth, expanding from 14,618 citizens in 2010 to an estimated 23,577 today, a 61 percent increase.
"We are the busiest library in Baldwin County, and we just continue to grow," Thompson said. "So, it's very challenging to do all the programming and things that we want to do with the current facility that we have."
Plans Call for Library That Also Is Community Hub
His vision for the proposed new building is that "it will be more than just a library but a community hub."
With that in mind, the new Foley Public Library will include a dedicated science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, or STEAM, lab with a 3D printer and sinks for the community to create projects that incorporate water.
It will be in contrast to the library's current multipurpose space that requires hauling, setting up and breaking down resources, Thompson explained.
"We want it to be a community building, so the multipurpose space that we have will really help us engage some groups that we might have been able to engage before and keep people coming through our library that may not have experienced our library before," he added.
The library's children's section also will expand, and a separate teen section will be created on the second floor.
"It's very important for teens to have their own area," noted Thompson. "They don't want to be in the little kids area. They're not quite adults yet. So being able to create that area is something that we really tried to focus on."
When the library is completed, the current 25-person computer lab will have been expanded into private study rooms for more space. There, tech-savvy librarians will conduct community training classes. In addition, the new facility will house an auditorium, café and a bookstore.
Because the Foley Public Library's genealogy expert, Jeanette Bornholt, is recognized as one of the most respected people in her field in Alabama, the new library also will include a genealogy space. Other highlights include a sensory room for children with special needs and an outdoor programming space that overlooks a dog park and connects to a walking trail.
"We're trying to make sure that we have the flexibility to address maybe some of the communities that we don't always address, and everything that we've done is [about creating] flexibility," Thompson explained.
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