Interior makeover for Free Library

After several years of closure and renovations, the day that patrons of the Free Library of Philadelphia's Walnut Street West branch have been anxiously awaiting is close at hand.

The building, which has been gutted completely and is being extensively renovated, is set to open its doors once again in the late fall of 2003.

"What you're seeing right now is the internal demolition that had to happen," said Friends of Walnut West Library President Beth Ann Johnson.

The internal demolition that has been done thus far involved removing a false ceiling that was installed in 1960, removing air conditioning ducts and filling in the basement with concrete.

The lower of the building's two floors will house an entrance lobby with a large circulation desk, work rooms and a community room where programming will take place. Most of the programming that was done by the branch has been discontinued since the buildings closure in the mid-1990's, but will continue once the building reopens. Such programming will include visits by authors, reading circles and the occasional poetry reading.

"Before we closed we had begun a series of programs called 'Growing Up in West Philadelphia,' where we asked people who grew up in this neighborhood to bring in some yearbooks and some pictures and asked them to talk about growing up here," Johnson said. "We're looking forward to doing those again."

The upper floor, which patrons can access via staircase or the new elevator, will house the stacks -- which are being reinforced with 40,000 new materials -- and a story reading area for children.

The newly-renovated building will also be handicap-accessible, with new computer technology to assist those in need.

"We're going to have handicap technology for people who are sight impaired or hearing impaired," Walnut West Branch Director Allison Freyermuth said.

The branch -- one of more than 50 located throughout the city -- closed its doors in October 1996 due to structural damage that required nearly $4 million in repairs. Due to a lack of funding, plans to reopen the branch were halted.

After much protest by community members, the state donated $3 million, and plans for the renovation of the building were announced in April 2001, with construction beginning in May 2002.

In addition to the state's grant, $43,000 has been raised by the community and the Friends of Walnut West Library through book sales and various contributions.

"We hope to run a few more book sales... at the corner of 40th and Locust streets," Johnson said. "At least once a week we'll try to have a book sale until the weather changes, between three and six in the afternoon."

This past summer, Penn contributed $8,000 toward the project, which will be used mainly for upgrades in the lobby area of the renovated building.

Since the closure of the building, the library has been temporarily housed in a smaller space owned by the University on the 3900 block of Walnut Street, where the collection is located and after-school homework help is offered to children in the surrounding community.

Despite the confinement of the library's temporary location, its patronage has been as strong as ever.

"Our little library has a very high rate of circulation, higher than you'd expect," Johnson said. "People are waiting for [the new] building to be open. You're going to find that it's going to be very well used."

In the case of the new library building, bigger will certainly be better.

"We're going to be able to do everything on a larger scale, anything that goes on in a library as usual -- cultural and informational programs, arts and music," Freyermuth said.

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