What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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previous space on Dickson Street. The popularity and necessity of the new building became immediately apparent, and the ensuing years found the library constantly expanding its offerings, reaching maximum capacity on most of its events and running out of room for its burgeoning collections. Meeting and study rooms were in constant demand. Multi-use rooms meant chaos when one event immediately followed another. When a special election to consider a millage increase for an FPL expansion was held in August 2016, voters overwhelmingly approved the increase, and construction officially started in July 2018. Which brings us back to last month, when Herrera gave us our jaw-dropping tour. From the moment we walked into the atrium-like new entrance and gazed at artist Aimee Papazian's "Voyage of Lost Keys," a magical sculpture that seemingly hangs in mid-air, we were awed by the scale of the 80,000-square- foot-plus expansion. Floor-to-ceiling windows never let us forget the beautiful environment that surrounds the building. There is a new, 8,700-square-foot event center, and the size of the children's library has doubled. Other additions include a 16-station teaching kitchen, an Art and Movement room, the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Center for Innovation and the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Gathering Place. As Herrera explained the thoughtful function of each new space, one thing was abundantly clear: "The prescience of every choice made has the concept of community in mind." Small nooks and meeting spaces throughout are comfortable spots to gather. The Center for Innovation and community kitchen offer services that could help start or boost careers. A dedicated story time room and craft space give relief to frazzled parents of tots. The Art and Movement room will provide access to free or low-cost dance and exercise classes. A librarian close at hand in each section means questions can be answered quickly and easily. The spacious event center gives additional opportunities for more community members to see special speakers and productions. And, of course, there are the books, the beating heart of every library, regardless of how modern or technologically advanced it might be. "Shelving the books in the new youth libraries was a very significant milestone for me," says Willow Fitzgibbon, director of library services. "While the expansion is so much more than books, seeing the books on shelves in the new spaces reminded me how entwined our traditional values of lifelong learning, accessibility and innovation are in this expansion and all of the new services FPL will now be able to offer." At the end of the tour, I unwittingly paraphrased Borges when I said to Herrera, "This is what I picture the library in Heaven looks like." My son's reaction? "Mind blown," he said, eyes wide. FPL Event Center Herrera says the new event center was designed to meet a multitude of needs. The seating is flexible and can accommodate up to 500 people when set up for a banquet, 700 in stadium- style seating or 1,000 standing. It boasts a state-of-the-art control booth with a concert-quality sound system, as well as professional video production capabilities, a dressing room and a green room. Guests can walk from the parking garage directly across the outside Gathering Place to the center, bypassing the rest of the library entirely. FPL Executive Director David Johnson has high hopes for the center. "The center will allow us to hold a wide variety of events that space constraints in the original building made problematic," says Johnson. "For example, the Lois Lowry author event had over 900 people in attendance, far exceeding our 600-seat capacity. Attendees were standing in any available inch of space. When we hosted the Levon Helm documentary film and panel discussion, 'Ain't In It For My Health,' the Walker Room was at its maximum capacity of 275, and the lobby was filled with temporary overflow seating. The various banquets we've held — Fayetteville Public Education Foundation's Hall of Honor, the 'Up Among The Hills' Gala and documentary film premiere, the Miller Williams Memorial — have required a much more expansive shutdown of the library. Additionally, when FPL was scheduled to be Maya Angelou's final public speaking engagement, we moved all of the 2,000 tickets online in 28 minutes. "In sum, what we have learned since the opening of the Blair Library in 2004 is that the quality of events that the library brings to this community has generated tremendous demand that far outpaces our capacity." Kristen Hoover, FPL event coordinator, says that once the coronavirus is no longer a concern, the center will be available for rental by community organizations at a "reasonable price point." She adds that the teaching kitchen, Gathering Place and the beautiful reception room adjacent to the event center can all be rented in conjunction with the center's events. JANUARY 10-16, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 3 COVER STORY FYI Opening Soon The Fayetteville Public Library plans to open its doors on Jan. 19, but call ahead to check for any late-breaking adjustments to that date. In the meantime, check out books via curbside delivery by calling the library. 401 W. Mountain St. 856-7000 Fayetteville Public Library Director of Marketing and Communications Samantha Herrera says the brand new, state-of-the-art Event Center has flexible seating and can accommodate up to 500 people when set up for a banquet, 700 in stadium-style seating or 1,000 standing. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Lara Jo Hightower) See FPL Page 5