Glenwood Library

 I stopped by the Glenwood Library in Howard County recently. It has always been one of my favorite libraries. I loved how they integrated the bucolic rural surroundings and used that in the architecture of the building. When I first went there after they opened, I felt like they had taken a farm, and tossed some of the typical architectural pieces you find around a farm and put them in a blender - which helped design this wonderful rural library that was incredibly modern with a bow towards the agricultural surroundings.

Fast forward several years, (has it really been 20 years since it opened?) and Howard County decided to refresh the branch. From new paint, to new ways of interpreting and using the space, the library looks beautiful. Not only did they update the building and add new technology, they did an excellent job of honoring the architecture of the original building and keeping the more iconic parts of the design in place. 

The result is an eye catching space that meets the needs of the community and offers the very latest in technology. They have added a fabulous maker space along the wall that used to house the magazines, and they have everything you could want to use but can’t afford to buy - laser cutters, 3D Printers, a Photo Preservation Station, a large printer that prints out banners, a recording studio, OZ Bots, Lego Mindstorms - the list goes on and on.  The pictures below capture everything. They’ve also included a dedicated space in the middle of the library with a hard floor where people can eat and drink away from the books and electronics.

I’d like to add that you do have to pay for use of consumable materials. That’s how the library can afford to have them. So, if you want to use a laser cutter on Walnut, you are going to have to pay for the wood. BUT - you aren’t paying for the laser cutter, and the prices are posted on the material samples in the Tinker Space.

I’m including the pictures below. I’m not going to add a lot of commentary, because I honestly think that the pictures speak for themselves. If you’d like to see my original post on the Glenwood Library from 2016, you can find it here:

https://mini-van-mom.blogspot.com/2016/05/glenwood-library.html