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| White Oak Library |
This month, County Executive Leggett will officially reopen two newly refreshed branches of Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL), White Oak and Bethesda. These are the seventh and eighth of MCPL’s 21 branches that have been refreshed under the County Executive’s Library Refurbishment Level of Effort Project. The project, aptly named the Library Refresh Program, allows MCPL to update our facilities in response to the evolving role of public libraries, advances in technology, and ongoing customer expectations.
With White Oak reopening on April 2 and Bethesda reopening on April 14, the County will have refreshed and reopened eight branches in under three years. Each of these refresh projects were different, with issues varying from minor to very complex. The County’s Department of General Services, under the direction of David Dise, was able to effectively tackle each issue ensuring the branches were ready to reopen in a timely manner. They adjusted the initial timeframe
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| Bethesda Library |
to refresh a branch, from 4-6 months to 6-8 months, and the number of branches to be refreshed each year, from three to two beginning with the FY19 projects. This will allow more time to focus on and correct any unforeseen issues that may arise during the refresh of a library building.
In a time of decreased availability of funds for capital improvements and an aging physical and technological infrastructure, our Library Refresh Program is still a creative, cost effective approach that preserves, refreshes, and modernizes branches with minimal downtime. This innovative approach is helping us to achieve our overarching goal --- delighting our customers.Labels: April 2018, From the Director
