Santa Barbara Public Library patrons and visitors will be able to sample from food trucks and celebrate as they take in the newly renovated location.
The public library on Anapamu Street has been undergoing a makeover for about two years. The building got new elevators, and Faulkner Gallery was remodeled along with the library’s plaza.
Lauren Trujillo, the Executive Director of the library’s Foundation said before renovations the plaza only had space for about 100 people.
“And now, the new renovation will bring a space that can program up to 1200 people and it's all flat and open. So we have clear lines of sight and the community can now see the library, you can identify it as the library and the community will be able to use it for so much more,” Trujillo said.
But, Trujillo also said it isn’t just a beautification project.
“It really was an access project. The plaza space that made up the entire exterior of the library, which is located between the courthouse and the art museum downtown, the exterior did not make it an inviting space or welcoming space that made it very clear to the community that one was the library or two, that it was a historic building,” Trujillo said.
The public library was built in the 1870s on State Street, but as the city began to grow the library eventually moved to where it is now. It houses thousands of historic photos in the county and more than 100 issues of the County’s first newspaper, The Santa Barbara Gazette.
E. Anapamu St. between State and Anacapa St. will be shut down to make room for local nonprofits and book enthusiasts who want to check out the updates, eat some food and celebrate.
