The New Tampa Regional Library is a 25,000 square foot public library located in the Hunter's Green area in north central Hillsborough County, Florida. It is a single-story building and the 19th facility in the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System.
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History
The New Tampa Regional Library was dedicated on May 4, 1997. It was built in response to growing population in the area that had put strain on the smaller nearby Thonotosassa and Lutz branches of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Library System and serves the communities of Pebble Creek, Tampa Palms, and New Tampa. With a budget of $4.4 million, the New Tampa Regional Library was designed by Harvard Jolly Clees Toppe Architects, funded by a .10-mill property tax levy, and built on 3.6 acres donated by Markborough Florida Inc. It opened with 100,000 volumes, five meeting rooms, and two hundred parking spaces.
Services
In addition to books, DVDs, and audio CDs, the New Tampa Regional Library also offers meeting rooms, a large community room, story time room, public use internet computers, access to electronic databases & eBooks, a small maker space, and a used book store. As with all libraries in the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library system, the New Tampa Regional Library also offers printers, photocopiers, scanners, public fax service, free wi-fi, and assistive technology.
Friends of the Library
The Friends of the New Tampa Regional Library worked hard to get community support in order to build the library. Jeri Zelinski, a retired librarian, was the founding president of the friends group and was an advocate who led petition drives and worked with developers to donate the land for the library. On September 25, 2004 the Jeri Zelinski Community Room was dedicated in honor of her efforts in bringing a library to the New Tampa area. Currently, the Friends of the New Tampa Regional Library provide support for the library through the Friends-operated bookstore known as the Book Nook. Proceeds from book sales are used to fund programs for children, teens and adults and to support other library activities.
Public Art
The library contains several pieces of art provided through Hillsborough County's Public Art Program. The exterior of the library has a ceramic tile ribbon walkway, Alphawalk, by Claire Jeanine Satin. In 2014, the library began to display The Key Tree by Rob Woods on its back patio. This piece is a 14-branch tree that has 1880 leaves made from keys collected by students from Tampa Palms Elementary School. Spirit Ladder by Celeste Simon, From the Shadows and Cascading by Martha Brooks Marshall, Gift Bearers by John Whipple, and Trojan Battle Plan by George Pappas are a few of the pieces displayed within the library.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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