FLINT, MI — This is no average community library.
The Flint Public Library is back and built better than ever with new technologies, meeting rooms and even the option to eat food now.
The newly-renovated Flint Public Library opened on Thursday, May 19, for self-guided tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday, May 20, for a soft opening when the library will be fully staffed and all services will be available.
After being closed for more than two years for the project following some delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the renovations with a price tag of more $20 million are finally complete.
Related: Flint Public Library reopens after multi-million dollar renovation project
The library, located at 1026 E. Kearsley St., is now better equipped to service Flint and Genesee County residents after going from just three to 19 small and large meeting spaces, a snack room, kitchenette, community gathering spaces and classrooms.
This summer, the Flint Public Library will open a digital studio outfitted with studio-quality microphones, a green screen and a Mac with the entire Adobe Creative Suite.
Executive Director Kay Schwartz’s favorite aspect of the new library interior is the Gloria Coles Sky Salon, a 7-person meeting room that floats with four glass walls overhead the learning staircase in the center of the building.
“You can see all the way around and people can see you. I think it is going to be a popular place,” Schwartz said.
The library is now outfitted with smaller book stacks to provide sight lines to glass windows that surround the building, a large Children’s Learning Place, Community Room, Learning Staircase, Internet Cafe, Digital Learning Hub and an expanded Local History and Genealogy space with room to grow. It also has casual outdoor gathering spaces.
The project added 16,000 square feet of public space by reorganizing the use of the bottom floor and opening up the layout, Schwartz said.
Flint voters approved a $12.6 million bond in November 2019 to fund the renovations, along with money from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Ruth Mott Foundation and Community Foundation of Greater Flint.
Normal operating hours resume on Saturday, May 21 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be a Grand Opening Extravaganza on the same day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Watch the video above to take virtual tour and get your first look inside the newly renovated facility. Click through the gallery below to see even more details and pictures throughout the library.
First look inside of Flint Public Library after multi-million dollar renovation project
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