Remember when former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez threatened to close libraries and did slash their budgets, cutting hours and days of operation, in 2013?
Seven years later, not only are the libraries almost back to full hours, but the tiny storefront branch in Hialeah Gardens has been replaced with a cutting-edge, 13,500-square-foot facility more than 10 times the size. It opened Thursday.
This is not your mother’s library. There’s a place where you can read quietly, but there’s also a space to sing.
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In addition to books and meeting and study rooms, the library, at a one-of-a-kind YOUmedia Miami space, including a recording studio with the latest in audio and video equipment, podcasting, music, 3D printing, drones and more for teens 14 to 19 to learn and create. The are several classrooms so students can receive tutoring there, as well as an auditorium for plays and other performances.
The $5 million facility was designed and constructed by State Contracting & Engineering Corp. and Silva Architects.
“The new library’s unique offerings make it one of the gems of the Miami-Dade County library system,” said Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz, who cut the ribbon Thursday with county Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava, Hialeah Garden Mayor Yioset de la Cruz and others.
“And its location makes it very convenient for residents to enjoy both recreational and library services all in one place,” Diaz said, in a statement.
It’s in the city of Hialeah Gardens’ Westland Gardens Park complex, 13451 NW 107 Ave., chosen by both Díaz and de la Cruz because of the large number of school-aged children who live in the surrounding neighborhoods.
In addition to its extensive book and audiovisual collections, the library features meeting and study rooms, an auditorium/multipurpose room for public use, and collaboration areas with digital screens/monitors with wireless connections, along with a beautiful outdoor plaza with a movie wall for movie screenings and other outdoor programs.
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Diaz tried out the recording studio with an electric guitar. Well, he posed for a photo in the recording studio with a guitar.
“I don’t have a musical bone in my body,” he told Ladra. “I wish I did.”
Miami-Dade opens new, $5 million library in Hialeah Gardens park added by Ladra on
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