$4.3M Johns Island Branch Library opens today

A decade ago, it was only a dream, and a year ago it was just a noisy construction site. But today the first public library specifically built to serve Johns, Wadmalaw, Seabrook and Kiawah islands will open. The $4.3 million Johns Island Branch Library at 3531 Maybank Highway will be dedicated at 10:30 a.m. in a ceremony that will include comments from Charleston County officials and the voices of the Haut Gap Middle School choir. Afterward, island residents can browse the shelves and check out any of the nearly 35,000 available books, DVDs, tapes and CDs. "We are really ready to be the community's library, and we are ready to see faces in here," said Darlene Jackson, branch library manager. "I think it's going to be awesome." Ground was broken for the library in December 2003. A staff of full-time and part-time employees was assembled in the past year, and this summer the first 18-wheelers loaded with books and audio/video material began unloading at the building's doors. The 16,000-square-foot library is a regional facility about twice the size of the county's typical branch libraries. Two of the library's 40 computers are set up in Spanish, and 1,000 books and 500 audio-visual items are available in Spanish. The building houses a Story Hour Room, conference room and large children's area. There are four other regional libraries countywide: two in North Charleston, one in Mount Pleasant and one in West Ashley. The new library is an important addition to the system, county library spokeswoman Frances Richardson said. "It reaches so many people in that community out there. We are especially hoping we will reach the Hispanic community." The Johns, Wadmalaw, Kiawah and Seabrook island communities are projected to have more than 23,000 residents by 2015, according to library spokesmen. Sidewalks connect the library to Haut Gap Middle School, which will be a partner in many library programs. Jackson said everything the library does will have an educational purpose. "We all agreed that everything that comes out of here will have a purpose: to impart knowledge and enlighten," she said.

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