As East Columbia Branch Library manager Suki Lee walked through the newly remodeled building days before its official debut this weekend, the word she used frequently to describe the updated space was “light.”

“Think of what we can do now, the potential,” Lee said, referring to the vast glass-walled classrooms, meeting and study spaces.

The branch, which was scheduled to open this Saturday, has undergone a 13-month, $4.7 million renovation.

East Columbia, opened in 1994, is the third-largest branch in the county’s library system at 47,000 square feet. There are 161,000 items in its collection. It’s the first of two branches reopening this year after construction. A new Elkridge branch is slated to open March10.

Angela Brade, the library system’s chief operating officer for support services and capital projects, said the priority for East Columbia was to maximize the building’s designated study areas, whether in quiet rooms or chairs and tables throughout the building in cafe areas.

Administrators proposed the renovation See LIBRARY, page 6