Happy Birthday, Beaufort Branch Library

The Library system decided to "celebrate Library birthdays" as part of a continuing series of events to engage the public and showcase library services. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Pretty much every human alive wants a sugar rush that cake supplies - and to eat some at their local beloved library, super cool, right? Picking a date seems simple enough too: What day did the current Library building begin providing library services to its community? Or perhaps, When was the current Library building dedicated? Hopefully the two dates - dates of service delivery and the dedication date - would be fairly close together. Here's the problem when this principle is applied to the downtown Beaufort Branch Library:

The structure supplying current services was cobbled to an older structure and the 1st and 2nd floors of the new construction were finished years apart. The "new" building was providing services from part of its structure 6 months before the building was dedicated. The day that library service delivery restarted after everything was put on new or relocated shelves in part of the partially completed building - got more text - and a better photo -- in the Beaufort Gazette than coverage of actual the Dedication Ceremony. (Longtime Beaufort Gazette reporter - and longtime Friend of the Beaufort Library supporter - Lolita Huckaby wrote both the re-opening and the dedication articles.)

From reviewing the contents of the Beaufort County Library archive that we have in the Research Room, I learned a few things.

1) There are no BCL photographs of the Dedication ceremonies of 1993. None. Absolutely nada.

2) Library Director Julie Zachowski had a hard slog trying to get a more appropriately sized structure approved, sited, built and opened.

3) The building took a long time to plan, build, and finish -- almost as long as the 9 years and 16 days it took me to get the BDC Research Room moved from the First floor to out of the flood plain on the Second floor of this building at 311 Scott Street.

From the records found in the Research Room, it seems that the Beaufort County Council argued with the Library Board of Trustees, Library Director, and construction entities, etc. for years from the time of official recognition that the 1964 library was no longer suitable for the growing population of the area to walking into a completely finished Library building with an entrance address of 311 Scott Street in 1998.

• To save money, the 1980s-1990s extension connected to the Craven Street Library (built in 1964) on the ground floor. The 1964 library became the Children's services area in 1992.
• Most of the first floor extension was opened to serve the public on August 24, 1992.
• Construction of the first floor was completely finished in October 1992. They waited until the multiple layers of stain on the SC Room shelves finally dried and the landscaping was installed to pronounce the first floor done.
• The Library Board of Trustees and the Friends of the Beaufort Library decided that the formal Dedication ceremony would happen on Valentine's Day, 1993 - hence the source of the "30th Birthday" theme on Saturday at Beaufort Branch.
• Construction on the 2nd floor would be delayed due to cost and political considerations. It was completed in 1998. At that time the second floor was Library Administration offices and a large meeting space.
• In 2009-2010 that large meeting was converted to house the growing the Beaufort District Collection.

Looking ahead: Because the BDC is its own cost center, has its own policies, keeps its own hours, and does "its own thing" in accord with public library and archival principles and practices, the BDC's "Birthday Celebration" will be at the end of September commemorating the move from the vastly overcrowded conditions of the area now occupied by the Beaufort Branch Theresa Dunn Meeting Room to the former Paul S. Siegmund Meeting Room on the second floor. We'll be celebrating 13 years of service from our current location. But as you will learn, what started out as a shelf in the Carnegie Library, grew into a closet, then into a room, and then into a much larger room. Library services related to local history go way further back in time. More details will be announced closer to the BDC's relocation celebration.

The display that I put in the lobby panel near the elevator on the first floor of the Beaufort Branch Library tells the basic story behind this Saturday's "Beaufort Branch 30th Birthday" event. The lobby board features some surrogates of construction photographs, a newspaper image, the dedication invitation, and a slide that summarizes construction costs and size. I added the floating sparkling hearts because it's February and February is Library Lovers Month.

Bottom (and last) line: This Library location has seen a lot of changes in the past 59 years.