One of Lexington’s most popular and bilingual library branches will expand
One of Lexington’s busiest branch libraries will be demolished and rebuilt at its current location to expand its footprint and better serve the growing Versailles Road corridor, officials said Thursday.
The Village Branch Library opened in a leased space in a shopping center on Versailles Road in 2004. Although it was able to expand in 2010, it has needed additional space for years.
It was the library system’s first bilingual location established to meet the needs of Fayette County’s growing Spanish-speaking population.
The Village Branch has traditionally been one of the library’s busiest locations but also its smallest. The system has been looking for years for a new permanent home for the branch that has become a hub for much of the city’s Spanish-speaking population.
The library board of trustees purchased the current site for a little more than $3 million. The board will soon hire an architect and gather input from the community. The plans call for a new 30,000-square-foot, two-story library that would also offer drive-through services. A capital campaign to raise funds for the new library will be announced soon, library officials said.
Until plans are complete, the project’s cost hasn’t been determined, said Anne Donworth, the library’s director of development. The new library will be roughly three times the size of the current one on Versailles Road.
The location at 2185 Versailles Road is an easy walk for many in the neighborhoods surrounding Versailles Road, library officials said Thursday.
“It is well-located but severely undersized,” said Lexington Public Library Executive Director Heather Dieffenbach. “To suit the current needs of the community and to plan for future growth, Village Library will be reconstructed as a new, signature branch.”
Dieffenbach said a construction timeline has not yet been determined. Planning will take more than a year, and construction will likely take an additional year.
The library system started an updated facilities plan in 2018 to determine the need for space and facilities and to provide a guide for future improvements and growth. More than 2,400 people participated in the process.
The public overwhelmingly wanted Village Branch to expand, Dieffenbach said.
“No matter where we went in Lexington, there was just tremendous community support to expand Village Branch,” Dieffenbach said. “If you have ever been there, it’s just bursting at the seams.”
At one point, the library had floated selling the Central Library on Main Street. The new updated master plan recommended the central library stay at its current location, she said.
“It’s in a great location,” Dieffenbach said of the system’s Main Street library. “We think it can be repurposed to serve today’s needs.”
Village Branch serves as a library and as a community center, which is different from the library’s five other locations. It has robust programming designed to meet the needs of the neighborhood, library officials said.
“The Village Branch routinely punches above its weight with program attendance and circulation numbers far above what might be expected of a small storefront branch,” said Lexington Public Library Board Chair Lawrence T. Smith. “It has hosted a vibrant homework help program, bilingual GED classes, and employs bilingual staff to help with job search assistance and social services.”
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilwoman Jennifer Reynolds, whose district includes the branch, said she has paired with the library to hold several community outreach events. She’s also a frequent patron. Village Branch has become the anchor for the city’s international community, said Reynolds.
“It ... is a key piece of the city’s infrastructure,” Reynolds said. “This is an important investment in the people who live work and play in the 11th District.”
The Lexington Public Library has six locations, nearly two million visitors and three million books and other items checked out each year.
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 11:42 AM.
