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Description
Oklahoma City and Metropolitan Library System officials broke ground on the new Capitol Hill Library, which will serve as a community focal point in south OKC for decades to come.
The $4.3 million, 17,000 square-foot renovation will replace the old library on the site, which opened in 1951. The expanded library will be 1,300 square feet larger and include a collection of more than 44,000 books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and other forms of physical media.
A
A
Multiple
libraries
have
tried
to
see,
year
after
year
of
funding
issues
and
trying
to
figure
out
how
they
can
get
back
open
and
it's
an
annual
process
that
that
the
city
after
city
goes
through
across
the
country,
and
we
have
been
so
blessed
here
to
have
a
community
that
supports
its
library
systems.
She.
B
Said
if
you
want
to
see
what
this
library
does
come
at
two
o'clock
on
a
school
day
and
stay
till
two-thirty
and
I
did
when
I
got
here
at
two
o'clock.
It
wasn't
anybody
here,
but
a
couple
of
people
reading
the
newspaper
and
the
library
staff
by
2
30,
you
had
children
in
here.
You
couldn't
get
them
all
in
here,
I
mean
they
were
everywhere.
They
were
at
every
computer.
They
were
at
every
table
is
in
every
chair
and
I
thought.
C
The
new
building
will
in
fact
take
the
existing
space
from
about
12,000
square
feet
up
to
about
19,000
square
feet
and
will
accommodate
twice
as
many
library
members
as
the
original,
the
new
library,
although
you
may
recall,
if
you,
if
you're
a
veteran
of
this
facility,
you
may
recall
that
it
was
a
great
space.
Looked
like
a
library
should
lots
of
shelves
lots
of
books.
The
new
space
will
still
have
a
lot
of
that,
but
it
will
be
primarily
focused
on
spaces
for
people.
C
One
of
the
things
that
our
new
buildings
are
what
we're
trying
to
incorporate
as
you've
seen
in
other
buildings,
is
this
idea
of
of
light.
We
don't
like
the
the
old
libraries
that
are
so
dark
that
you
feel
like
you're
closed
in,
and
so
this
it'll
bring
a
spirit
of
lightness
to
the
building,
because
we'll
have
a
lot
of
natural
light
in.
There
will
also
double
the
number
of
computers.
This
is
a
huge
thing.
C
Capitol
Hill
is
one
of
our
highest
computer
usage
per
capita
spaces,
and
one
of
the
things
that
this
library
needs
is
more
computers.
If
you've
ever
come
here
on
a
Sunday
afternoon,
you
can
sit
in
line
for
several
hours
waiting
for
a
computer
and
what
we're
hoping
is
that
we
will
be
able
to
reduce
that
quite
a
bit.
I
also.
A
Wanted
to
talk
about
this
site.
This
is
a
very
historic
site
in
not
just
oklahoma
city's
history,
but
the
state
of
oklahoma,
as
I
understand
it,
Charles
Willard,
perhaps
the
first
aviator
in
the
state
of
Oklahoma's
history,
took
off
from
this
very
spot
on
what
was
the
very
first
airplane
trip
taken
in
the
state
of
Oklahoma.
A
Now
those
early
planes
didn't
necessarily
turn,
and,
and
so
when
your,
when
your
plane
doesn't
turn,
there's
only
two
possibilities.
You
continue
to
go
around
the
earth
and
come
back
on
the
other
side
or
you
crash
and
of
course,
Charles
at
some
point
crashed,
but
he
survived
and
one
of
the
interesting
anecdotes
about
that
initial
flight
by
Charles
Willard
was
that
a
young
teenager
named
Clarence
Paige
had
ridden
over
to
see
the
flight
on
his
bicycle
and
Clarence.