Albany Park library set to open in the fall

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

The new Albany Park Library, 5150 N. Kimball Ave., is scheduled to open in the fall. The 16,300-square-foot library is about 55 percent larger than the previous 10,555-square-foot facility, which was demolished at the end of 2012.

The library will have a 16-space parking lot. An adjacent apartment building at 3415 W. Foster Ave. was purchased through eminent domain and demolished as part of the $15 million project.

The library will feature a teen space with technology workshops, a reading room for 144 people, a multipurpose room for 125 people, 38 public computers, Internet connections, financial literacy programs for teens and adults, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs, ethnic heritage programs and early literacy programs.

Also, the library will feature a summer reading programs, after school homework help, computer literacy assistances, adults programs such as book discussion, literary events and cultural programs and well as Korean and Spanish collections.

The previous library was built in 1962. When the original library was being demolished in 2012, a group of residents formed a committee that called for the library to open at a temporary location over the course of the project. The city had said at the time that it was not economically feasible to open a temporary space.

The new Albany Park Library, 5150 N. Kimball Ave., is scheduled to open in the fall. The 16,300-square-foot library is about 55 percent larger than the previous 10,555-square-foot facility, which was demolished at the end of 2012.
The library will have a 16-space parking lot. An adjacent apartment building at 3415 W. Foster Ave. was purchased through eminent domain and demolished as part of the $15 million project.
(Photo by Cyryl Jakubowski)

The former library gets demolished in December of 2012.
(Photos Cyryl Jakubowski)