“After two years and $20 million in renovations, the doors of the Auburn Avenue Research Library reopened earlier this month. Was the time and money worth it?
Totally!
All the upgrades I’ve seen have improved the experience for visitors. They include a new auditorium on the first floor and art & exhibits throughout the facility.
Auburn has always held a special place among libraries since it houses a collection of African American books and documents of literary, cultural and historical significance.
Last week, I visited in search of Mahalia Jackson’s cookbook. I’ve been told that her legendary voice was only rivaled by her skills in the kitchen. That’s saying a lot so I wanted to check it out for myself.
Or should I say see for myself. You can’t actually check out any of the books in the Auburn Library. They treat everything like reference desk materials only for onsite review. But if you find anything interesting you can make copies for 10 cents/page.
Note also that they restrict access to the internet. You can use desktop computers to search their online library catalog. Beyond that there’s no access for other purposes, even on your own laptop. Clearly, they want people using the research materials and not surfing the internet.
As a result it feels like there’s more seating here than at other branches. The second floor reading room has long desks with tabletop outlets and lots of room to spread out. I had an entire table to myself and it was so quiet that I could hear my fingertips flipping through the pages.
I liked the old Auburn Library but I love Auburn 2.0. It’s like-new, clean, quiet, and full of resources you can’t find elsewhere. I encourage everyone to visit while it still has its new car smell.”
