Bluffton Branch Library will reopen with a ‘new glow’ after $844K renovations. When?
The newly remodeled Bluffton Branch Library will open its doors early next month after undergoing a months-long, $844,000 renovation.
A grand opening for the renovated library, one of five locations in the Beaufort County Library system, is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Jan. 4.
The main portion of the 25,000-square-foot library, located along Palmetto Way near Old Town Bluffton, has been closed since March to add new community meeting rooms, redesigned book sections and an expanded space for children’s programs.
The renovation, which remodeled 60% of the library, also included a new paint job, furniture and flooring that give the building a “new glow,” according to Director Amanda Dickman.
The library was supposed to reopen in the fall, but supply chain delays with the new furniture pushed the grand opening to January, according to Beaufort County spokesperson Chris Ophardt.
COVID-19 also forced the library to close from March 2020 to October 2020.
During the renovation, the library’s entrance and main meeting room served as a “miniature pop-up” library for those who wanted to check out books. Library staff set up book shelves, public computers, a fax, scanning and copy machines and a self-checkout unit, according to Dickman.
That pop-up library will be closed Jan. 3 to prepare for the grand opening, she said.
The library first opened in 2002 and has since seen “enormous community growth,” said Dickman. The renovation was planned after a series of surveys, focus group meetings and a 2019 space study, she said.
Among the other changes:
▪ The children’s area was relocated, expanded and enclosed.
▪ Library staff added a new programming room for children.
▪ The adult fiction section is now in the front of the library where the former children’s area was located.
▪ The teen area was relocated.
▪ A new community meeting room replaced an old staff office.
