As partofthe expansion, the branch’s collection will increase 5percent and four new full-time staff members will be added, Lordsaid.

Beforethe renovations,Lordsaid,50,000 to 60,000 items amonth were checkedout.

He hopes tosee that surpass 75,000.

The library was years in the making. A 2009 feasibility study for the county’s libraries found that anew site would bethe mostcost-effective approach toaddress the Elkridge area’s growing population, projected to increase by 40 percent between 2000 and 2030,reaching 38,000.

The Elkridge branch isthe third ofthe county’s six libraries to undergo renovations in the last two years. In 2016, Columbia’s Central Branch underwent $900,000 of improvements, and earlier this year, the EastColumbia Branch reopened after a $4.7million renovation.

The library system’s commitment to updating its branches and services is in line with many systems’ efforts across the country to stay up to date, said Pam Sandlian Smith, president of the national Public Library Association.

“Aslibraries evolve, one of the things that’s critical for us is to remain relevant.

We are somuch more thanaplace tocheck books out.Books areour breadand butter, it’s where westarted ... but we’re somuch more, we’re places where people can learn,” she said.

“We don’t want tobecome adusty old warehouse ofold books, but to be that vital place in the community where people come to share ideas and collect ideas and talk with each other and learn from each other,” she said.

One of the biggest attractions isexpected to be the DIY Education Center, atool library at which patrons can check out a variety ofhousehold tools, ranging from ladders tosewing machines and cake pans.

The tools will beavailable for aweek at a time, with the same fine rates as DVD checkouts for overdue items, $1 aday. The tools offered for checkout will bechanged regularly based on customer feedback.

The tool library is one of only ahandfulin the area. Station North Tool Library in Baltimore City offers class pass memberships for its tools and classes beginning at $9 ayear and a“sliding scale membership.”

Retailers such as Home Depot offer tool rentalsbyhour, dayorweek; prices vary by the tool, for acordless drill, afour-hour minimum rental starts at $15.

The Elkridge branch will add adult and children’s classes, many of which will correspond with the tools offered in the education center, Lord said. Previously the branch offered one or two adult classes a week, but Lord said he’d liketosee that number increased. The number of new classes hasn’t been decided, he said.

Designers were inspired by atoollibrary at the Berkeley, Calif., Public Library, Brade said, and wanted to expand on the idea to offer a wider variety of resources. The center is the first tool lending library in one of the county’s branches.

More library systems are pushing to diversify collections available for checkout, said Denise Agosto,director of the master’s degree in library and information science program at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Agosto said that at one branch in the Philadelphialibrary system there’s amusical instrument library;inanother,neckties.

“The whole purpose of apublic library is to serve the needs of acommunity and that can be any kind of need.Many libraries are broadening their collections in terms of whatthey offer,” Agosto said. “It’s really important to stress that libraries are moving away from focusing onthe collection to focusing on the community.”

As libraries across the country have diversified their offerings, Sandlian Smith said,the skillsoflibrarianshavediversified to be moretechnically inclined and to have strong personal skills. At the Elkridge branch, Lord said he’s seen a similar shift for librarians to be tech- and social-media savvy,and to be talented problem solvers.

“The job of alibrarian was closer to an organizer of things, we connected people with information. We still do that, but now we are developing relationships and partnerships with people in our community,”

SandlianSmithsaid.

When designing libraries, Sandlian Smith said, the shift to a focus on community interaction has meant a change toward constructing spaces that prioritize bringing people together and providing space for a wider variety of activities, including group meetings and classes.

“The traditional way of planning buildings was really to plan space around collections,” she said. “Now Ithink people are planning space around activities and what people are doing in libraries and how libraries are being used in very different ways.”

This can mean building more meeting rooms for community events and classes as well as more quiet study spaces.The focus of libraries moving forward needs to be on providing space for “participatory” learning,Sandlian Smith said.

Howard County libraries have taken these ideas to heart,with the goal of turning each facility into a “destination library,”

Brade said. The Elkridge branch features six study rooms, two meeting rooms and three classroom and studio spaces.

The East Columbia Branch Library, which reopened on Feb.10 after extensive renovations, also features more study and meeting spaces togive patrons more areas for independent and group learning. Both branches are also now offering a greater number of children’s and adult classes: More than 340,000 people took a class in 2017, a 10 percent increase from the year before,according to library data.

The new spaces in East Columbia and Elkridge have a greater focus on bringing natural light and anopening feeling to the buildings.In describing hisfirstreaction to seeing the new Elkridge branch, Lord put it simply:“Wow.”

“I wanted a welcoming environment, that was first of all bigger and more spread out. I really like our quiet study area, and I like the design, the lightness of the design which far exceeds my imagination and expectations,” he said.

“I’m still marveling over how large it is,” he said. “And I think the community’s going to react the same way.” kmagill@baltsun.com