New Edgeworthstown library officially opens
The new €4.3 million community library in Edgeworthstown officially opened to the public today, Monday 22 November.
The project, which is jointly funded by Department of Rural Community Development and Longford County Council in partnership with the community in Edgeworthstown, is the culmination of years of planning, design and construction.
This new library is located on the Main Street, easily accessible to all, and a car park to the rear provides much needed parking for the library and the town.
The contemporary facility is filled with light and space, and every detail was planned carefully, from the use of the latest technology to the colourful comfortable seating, the shelves and shelves of wonderful new books.
The children’s library on the ground floor includes a sensory wall, a tiny tot’s corner with a reading tree and an older children’s space for study or computer use.
The ground floor also hosts a relaxing corner for adults to sit and read the newspaper or choose from a quick pick selection of popular reads, suiting every taste.
The first floor houses the main adult section which is punctuated with spacious desks overlooking the plaza and the busy main street below.
All the usual genres are there to browse through and select, from classics to thrillers, romance to cookery, and from gardening and DIY to history books.
A magnificent tree of knowledge sculpture created by Longford artist Kevin Flood offers viewers many hours of pleasure. The piece was created from dead wood found around his family home at Agharra.
The valuable Edgeworth reference collection is also present, where scholars will come to research Maria Edgeworth and all the members of this extraordinary family that gave the town its name.
On the lower ground floor there is an exhibition space and meeting room available for use as well as the offices of Edgeworthstown District Development Association and manager Carmel Noone.
The chief executive of Longford County Council Paddy Mahon said: “We are grateful to the community in Edgeworthstown and especially Edgeworthstown Development Association, who acquired this site and handed it over to the council for a library.
"We hope that this major project will be the catalyst for the regeneration of the whole town and will have a transformative effect on the lives of this community into the future.”
Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council Cllr Peggy Nolan added: “I am very happy for the people of Edgeworthstown who, through their own efforts and working in close collaboration with the members and staff of Longford County Council, and especially my fellow elected members in Ballymahon Municipal District, have delivered this magnificent library for their town."
County librarian Mary Carleton Reynolds said the libraries are welcoming, inclusive spaces "and our vision for this library is ‘a community living room’ for the town and for the whole area with no barriers to access.
"The Edgeworthstown library staff look forward to welcoming everyone to this new library.”