Gahanna library to close for construction of new branch; temporary site is Hunter s Ridge
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The new two-level Gahanna branch, to be built on the same site, will be much larger than the current branch – from about 21,400 square feet to about 37,500 square feet – and is expected to open in the third of fourth quarter of 2022, said Ben Zenitsky, library spokesman.
Turner Construction Co. is the construction manager at risk, and NBBJ is the architect for the project.
“The Gahanna branch was built in 1991,” Zenitsky said. “Think about how much has changed in those 30 years. This new 21st-century library will serve as a reinvestment in the Gahanna community and the evolving needs of its residents.
The recent decision to discontinue publishing six Dr. Seuss books has rippled down to local libraries, where issues of ethnic insensitivity and racial stereotypes are being rekindled.
Nationally, some libraries already have decided not to display or promote the six picture books otherwise cheerful, colorful, rhymable classics that some find objectionable because of their racial and ethnic depictions.
The Chicago Public Library was among the first to pull from its circulation the six titles singled out by Dr. Seuss Enterprises earlier this month: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat s Quizzer.