Harford County gets new and improved library

By Wesley Harris
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

The Abingdon Branch of Harford County Public Library opened Wednesday after seven months of renovations and upgrades. The project started because of window and roof leaks, an issue that began before the facility became a library in June 2004.

“Harford County folks love their libraries here, and you were very, very patient,” said Mary Hastler, the CEO of Harford County Public Library during her opening address.

She spoke to a sizable crowd that filled up the front sidewalk of the library as they waited to get in. As they would soon find out, they didn’t wait months just for new windows, rooving, lights, paint and carpet.

The Abingdon Library now boasts an expansion of its children’s sections with cozy reading nooks, an interactive preschool early learning space, and “LUMO,” an interactive play augmented reality screen of which Hastler said, “Think Disney coming to Harford County Public Library.”

Katie Kinslow, an Abingdon resident and mother of three, lives within walking distance of the library. She visited the Abingdon Library once a week before the renovations. After the upgrades she says it will still be once a week, but she’ll be staying longer. The new children’s section and end caps full of knick-knacks keep the kids more occupied than before.

One of the additions is a Children’s Sensory room, a space for children up to age 14 to interact with an array of multi-sensory experiences. It is designed to provide stimulation and relaxation through touch, light and sound in a low-stress, fun environment.

The room will be by appointment, according to Julie McCashland, an Abingdon Library associate facilitating the packed Sensory Room Tuesday. The appointments will be up to 45 minutes per family after the opening week, with occasional open houses Monday nights.

Hastler said the building is 36,000 square feet, the same as the old facility.

“The walls are exactly where they were before,” Hastler said. “It does feel much larger now, and it’s very flexible.” 

“Some upholstery got caught up in the China trade war, some furnishings aren’t here yet,” Hastler added.

The shelves and chairs are easy to move around to make room for larger events and exhibits, Hastler said. She said the crowd capacity has increased from 200 to 400.

Debi Elliot, who lives across the street from the branch and watched it get repaired, said that while she thinks the spacious atmosphere is less cozy and will encourage kids to run around, she thinks it is excellent for children. She said she loves how the computers are set up off against the wall now. Green is skeptical about the loss of materials, seeing as how the cookbook section seemed to shrink during renovation.

Hastler said the library has more materials now than when it closed seven months ago.

Partial funding for the $2.9 million refresh and capital project was provided by the County Library Capital Grant Program, Maryland State Library as authorized by the Maryland General Assembly and supported by the Harford County Delegation.