Will Winston-Salem ever build a new downtown library?

[kevinhiggins]

I wanted to see what you guys thought. The current downtown library is horrid---dreary, old, and spread disjointedly all over the building. My wife won't even go there by herself because of the people who hang out around the elevators and lounge about the place. Of course its a public place available to everyone and should certainly allow all-comers, but the small size, small corridors, and dingy atmostphere amplify the issue.

I think Winston deserves FAR better, and GSO has recently built a new one. With so much focus on the downtown area growth, why has this not been brought up??

[twincity]

there was an article on this a few days ago. some renovation work will start soon and its only around $200,000.00 worth, but a new library is years away according to Forsyth County. theyre still debating whether to fully renovate, or build a new one some where else in downtown. dont expect to hear an announcement anytime soon.

[sax184]

The building is old and out-of-date. The other issue though is that in a city with a top-notch University, the city library is never going to compete on quality or collection with Wake's Z Smith Reynolds library. Certainly updating the building makes sense, but also a tour of ZSR to find out what it does and doesn't provide to the broader community (obviously, children's/teen books to start) would be a good place to start, and to focus on not duplicating materials and covering places that a world-class academic library doesn't excel at.

That said, I think there are bigger priorities for downtown than the library.

[suburban george3]

I do wish WS/FC would build a much better main library... that said though.. I always go to the Southside branch and have for almost all my life. But I have been in cities smaller than Winston (Johnson City, TN) and seen some very impressive facilities for main libraries.

[wagwa2001l]

The library needs renovation... but as for the people hanging out aroudn it... that has gotten better... and if the baseball staidum goes through and crime central... err I mean that small corner of green street is demolished and replaced a vast majority fo those people will disappear... it is high time that winston do someothing to make its downtown safer from people other than skateboarders.