ROOSEVELT ISLAND — The New York Public Library unveiled designs for its brand new Roosevelt Island Branch, featuring a playground, outdoor stadium seating and a large community room.
The branch currently runs out of a small space at 524 Main St., but once its new home down the road at 504 Main St. is complete in fall 2017, the library will triple in size and be big enough to have a separate alcove for kids and space to hold larger community events for the first time, according to an NYPL spokeswoman.
The NYPL recently presented renderings of the new location, which was first posted on the Roosevelt Islander blog, showing a community room with glass walls, and an outdoor space lined by an existing community garden.
The playground and stadium seating is open to all members of the public, and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation is responsible for its upkeep, according to the NYPL.
The new library will also offer 26 new computers, as opposed to the four or five it has now, and roughly 18,000 books on a given day, according to the NYPL.
In addition, a hearing loop — a mechanism that sends out electromagnetic signals to amplify sounds for those who are hearing impaired — will be integrated into the new community room.
A staff area with a small kitchen and a librarian's office is also included in the design, which was created as a result of the NYPL’s “Building For You” program, which works with the community to discuss its needs.
The library took a survey of Roosevelt Island residents last year, according to the NYPL.
The NYPL said it will coordinate its construction with the Archdiocese of New York, which signed a lease this summer for the building’s second floor, where the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church will relocate in the near future.
The NYPL first announced plans to move its Roosevelt Island branch in 2012, and now that the design is complete, construction is ready to commence next fall, the spokeswoman said.
The NYPL will hold a meeting to discuss specifics about programming at the new location at 6 p.m. on Jan. 14, in the Good Shephard Community Center, at 543 Main St.
