And so the story begins. Calvert County’s newest library has the feel of a vacation destination, and on Tuesday after the obligatory speeches were made and the traditional ceremonial ribbon was cut, hundreds filed into the newly constructed Twin Beaches Branch on 5th Street in North Beach.
“I can hardly contain my joy,” Calvert Library Executive Director Carrie Willson said, adding that the 18,200-square-foot structure “was 20-plus years in the making.”
Willson said the building is envisioned as “a community gathering place.”
The trek to take the new library from concept to reality wasn’t just the brainchild of architects and government, although they all played major roles.
Many county residents — those living in Chesapeake Beach and North Beach in particular — participated in a survey, offering suggestions on what amenities the new library should have.
“You’ll see your ideas all over this building,” Willson told library loyalists in the audience.
“Just wait until you get inside,” Calvert Commissioner President Earl F. “Buddy” Hance (R) said during his brief remarks. “It’s not just about books anymore.”
Calvert County government chipped in with the biggest allocation for the construction project — over $6.6 million in capital project funds. Maryland’s county library capital grant program nearly matched that with over $5.6 million.
The town of North Beach, which prevailed in a spirited competition with neighboring Chesapeake Beach for the new branch location over a half-dozen years ago, contributed $250,000 in funding from a department of housing and community development grant for the design. The town also provided the land for the new location.
And, Calvert Library Foundation raised money for the project, with almost 500 donors contributing.
A Calvert County company, Scheibel Contruction, won the bid to build the new library.
“Many people will be coming to see your new library,” Irene Padilla, Maryland’s state librarian, predicted.
Padilla said modern libraries have exceeded the traditional niche as a community’s repository for books and periodicals, and have instead become “research centers.”
Hance commented that the new branch’s ancillary study and meeting rooms will be “a great opportunity for our homeschoolers.”
County native and former state delegate Rachel Jones, who is now president of the Calvert Library Board of Trustees, recalled the large part Calvert’s children’s librarians had on her when she was growing up.
Among the unique aspects of the new library that customers young and old will be able to enjoy on fair weather days are a porch and terrace, which offer pleasant views of the Chesapeake Bay.
As current branch manager Melissa Gray accepted a bouquet of flowers from her husband, Jeff, and then held open the front door for the parade of day one patrons to come into the new library for the first time, her predecessor, Joanie Kilmon, expressed delight at the new facility.
In a written account of the Twin Beach Branch’s 43-year history, Kilmon noted the modest beginnings in the upstairs living quarters of the old North Beach firehouse that was no longer being used by volunteer firefighters. In 1991, the branch relocated to a Chesapeake Beach commercial building, the Captain Quarters.
“After 33 years the time had come to move again,” Kilmon said. “Enhanced services include more than 25 public computers and laptops along with loanable hotspots and Chromebooks. Technology tools abound for local artists, students and hobbyists, including a sound booth, a 3-D printer, a laminator and a laser etcher, to name a few. Customers of all ages will be entranced with all the amenities of their new library.”
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