Lakeisha Flores and daughter Lelolai Flores, 6, enjoy reading Silverlicious underneath skylighting at the newly refurbished Potomac Library.
Lelolai Flores, 6, and her mother Lakeisha Flores checked out the book Silverlicious to read together on a new sofa in the newly refurbished Potomac Library Saturday, Aug. 15.
Laju Satchi and her son Kartik Velu, 5, a student at Potomac Elementary School, brought a stack of books to read together at one of the new tables under new skylighting at the library.
Laju Satchi and son Kartik Velu, 5, kindergartener at Potomac Elementary, already have a stack of books to enjoy from the library that reopened Saturday.
And Angela Cherman found the perfect spot to take a portrait of her son Jonah Cherman, 1 and ½. Jonah also enjoyed the perfect cookie offered to patrons in celebration of the reopening of the Potomac Library, which had been closed since May 22, 2022, for renovations.
“I love that I see so many children and families here today. This is what this is all about,” said Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink.
POTOMAC’S COUNCILMEMBER Andrew Friedson said he spent a lot of time at the Potomac Library growing up and now he has nieces and nephews who spend a lot of time at the library. “Libraries are community centers, they are enrichment centers,” he said.
Council President Evan Glass thanked Maryland’s District 16 delegation, who also attended the ribbon cutting ceremony, for raising money necessary to “make sure there are places to read, places to learn and places to congregate.”
Vice-President Friedson, Glass and Mink were also joined by at-large councilmembers Laurie-Anne Sayles and Councilmember Gabe Albornoz. All members of the Maryland State District 16 Delegation attended, including Sen. Ariana Kelly and Delegates Marc Korman, Sara Love and Sarah Wolek.
The Winston Churchill Jazz Ensemble performed as part of the reopening event.
The Potomac Library, at 10101 Glenolden Dr. in Potomac, is the 13th library to be refurbished in the County’s program to keep all of its 21 branches up to date.
The library was originally built in1985 and renovations cost $3.5 million. County Executive Marc Elrich called refurbishing of libraries, rather than complete redoing of new buildings, one of the most environmentally conscious decisions that could be made. He thanked his predecessor Isiah “Ike” Leggett for his vision for refurbishings.
“I looked around, and as a former elementary school teacher, I thought: ‘What a great place this is to learn. To read. And to explore worlds that are beyond an individual’s imagination,’” said Elrich. “I know some people think that because of technology that libraries would go away. That is hardly the case. We look at every library and see opportunities to enhance the lives of community members of all ages and interests."
The refurbished library opened with more than 60,000 books on its new shelves.
The renovation work included the replacement of all flooring, reconfiguration and updating of shelving, painting throughout, a new service desk, new lighting, redesign of the children’s reading nook, installation of security equipment, the addition of lounge seating and study areas, replacement of the entry doors, creation of a family restroom and the updating of interior and exterior signs.
The Friends of the Potomac Library was thanked for donating $40,000 to the renovation. Friends of the Potomac Library also donated to the Potomac Garden Club which maintains the grounds and gardens of the library.
The friends group dissolved after the countywide Friends of the Library group demanded that the individual Friends groups dismantle in favor of the county group. See http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2023/mar/29/potomac-library-branch-reopen-saturday-april-15/ for more.
WEI LU, co-chair of the Potomac Library Advisory Committee, called Potomac Library “a safe harbor” for her and her family. As an immigrant, she remembers reading the entire Chinese book collection in the library, which was just a single shelf at the time, and now seeing rows of foreign language collections.
“My kids grew up in the library, we were in the library every week,” she said.
Libraries are a place where people “can exchange ideas freely and share ideas confidently. It is a place of discovering new passions,” said Lu.
“The library is your place where, together, we build a community,” she said.
Visit the Potomac Library
10101 Glenolden Drive
Potomac, MD 20854
240-777-0690
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/Library/branches/potomac.html
OPEN