INSIDE: Community Calendar Maze! Toy! • • • • 30 . • • ......3 1 State-of-the-art library planned with figure growth in mind. read to it. The library was officially dedicat- Special to the Jewish News ed June 15 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house. Earlier, he new Southfield Public Southfield Mayor Brenda L. Library building, Lawrence checked out the first book described by some as the — Profiles in Leadership by Alan "Taj Mahal" of city Axelrod. libraries, has opened its 185,000 Her mayoral victory in 2001 has books to the public. been attributed partially to her sup- When proposed, the library's size port of the final version of the divided the city politically. It took library. While all city officials three millage votes before the struc- ture was approved in 1999, but once favored construction of a new library, some opposed the size and the architect and builder got the scope of it — hence the opponents' OK, they came up with a stunning "Taj Mahal" tag. piece of architecture on Evergreen Lawrence said the "new library Road in Southfield's civic center. provides the community with a The $36.8 million, state-of-the-art world-class facility that will encour- building has 127,000 square feet of age reading and a lifelong love of space, featuring a 65-foot glass books. The library embraces progress tower with a meeting room inside of in the city, and embraces our chil- it — giving the appearance that the dren because it starts them reading room is floating. It also boasts three at a young age." outdoor terraces; a wide winding Eunice Rose, vice president of the stairway; three Pewabic tile fire- Southfield library board and the places; terrazzo floors; 250 public- only Jewish member of the five-per- use computers; a cafe; drive-through son appointed board, countered crit- book pickup and return service; and ics by asserting that the building is a huge children's book and play area, perfect the way it is now, and is just complete with a sleeping dragon right for the future needs of the city. that comes to life when children BILL CARROLL T 7/ 4 2003 24 "Our daytime population increases to about 150,000 people because of the many offices and high-tech com- panies along Northwestern Highway and other parts of the city and vari- ous schools," she said. "They will put it to good use. The old library was too crowded and outdated. This building provides users with 21st- century technology. "Our Jewish people especially love learning and love culture," she said. "All of the features at the new library will give them plenty of that. We envision much greater use of the facility by all segments of the com- munity. The library board sees it as becoming a true community center. "The new library already is put- ting Southfield on the map," she added. "Calls are coming in from around the United States and even other countries from librarians who have heard about this beautiful new place and want to know more about it.'' There is no separate Judaica sec- tion in the library, but City Librarian Douglas A. Zyskowski pointed out that books on many Jewish topics are spread out throughout the Sculpture of building. children's books "The new library greets library has a certain magic visitors. to it," he said, "like the magic you feel when you open a new book and a story unfolds. The books will satisfy the curious and aid those who are learning new sub- jects." The library has about 1,000 data ports, voice and video connections, two 14-seat computer labs, advanced audio-visual equipment with satellite downlink and broadcast capability, public study rooms equipped with computer and cable TV connections, a Southfield History Room, an audi- torium and conference room and several statues and sculptures. The children's area includes a space station room, storybook castle with book throne and dragon, read- ers' tree house and "Imaginarium” garden. The eye-opening architecture is the work of Phillips Swager Associates of Dallas. The firm has designed about 60 libraries around the country. E