By Lisa Millett
Hundreds of people gathered in the new $70 million Salt Lake City Public Library to celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, Feb. 8.
Six years ago, the process of creating the new library for the community began. Sixty-eight percent of the community voted in support of the funding for the new library. Two and a half years ago, the library ground breaking commenced.
'The building is principally designed for you our people,' said Roger Sandack, president of the library board at the opening ceremony. 'We want you to feel the comforts of home, the easy life, the comfortable ceilings, snacks and drinks, warm fireplaces and rooms to fulfill all of your children''s fantasies.'
The opening ceremony was held in the Urban Room, the new main section of the library located at 210 E. 400 South in Salt Lake. A ceiling decoration of miniature books and digital butterflies hung overhead.
The library collection has expanded to 500,000 books, CDs, videos, DVDs and includes material in 20 different languages. The building has six floors, plus a two-level, 600-stall underground parking structure.
Some of the building''s new features include a crescent walkway wall to view the city, a roof terrace, a garden plaza with a fountain and reflecting pool, a 300-seat auditorium, fireplaces, an outdoor amphitheatre and spiral staircases.
Shops located on the main floor sell items such as comic books, flowers, newspapers and magazines. Artwork is also located throughout the library.
'This is a place that will help us to connect, not only with the beautiful mountains but with people from near and far,' said Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson. 'It is a place not to be silenced, not to be shushed, but a place where all people will be encouraged to speak and create -- A place of uplift and inspiration.'
'As we use this grand library in the years to come, let it inspire us to do more, to be more, and to give more to this great community and to our world,' Anderson said. 'Let this be a place where community is built, where friends are made, where connections are forged.'
Library architect Moshe Safdie said the building is more than 200,000 square feet, double the previous space of the old library.
Safdie didn''t have an intended theme for the library, but he wanted the library to be a place where people would feel welcome.
'This is not just a library,' Safdie said. 'This is a library square. This is a meeting place for the citizens of Salt Lake.'
Former Mayor Deedee Corradini, who initially helped with the project of the library, also attended the opening ceremony.
'The new library has exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations, and it really is a symbol of Salt Lake City and what we''ve become and grown into as a city,' Corradini said. 'I think it bodes a wonderful future.'
The children''s library on the first floor includes story and craft rooms and creative spaces where parents and children can read together.
'I think that this library will be a community meeting place, sort of a living room, for the whole Salt Lake since we don''t have anything else of this magnitude,' children''s librarian Abbie Bell said. 'We are hoping that this is a place where people can come together and share ideas, disagreements or agreements, or to just be a gathering place.'
Nancy Tessman, director of the Salt Lake City Library, said libraries are about more than just holding books.
'They''re about actually making available ideas in a manner that allows us to grow and thrive and understand,' Tessman said. 'They are not about dark places. They are about bright places.'