With a whiff of asphalt greeting patrons—the parking lot isn’t quite finished—the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center opened to the public on Monday, and quite a few people were waiting to have a look around.
Adult patrons, as well as toddlers, babies and home-schooled students and their parents, were the first to get a public tour of the 28,000-square-foot facility at 2051 Lower Roswell Road. It replaces the East Marietta Library, which was demolished last month after 50 years in service.
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Built at a cost of $10.6 million, the facility is a joint project of the Cobb County Public Library System and the Cobb Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department.
In addition to a large adult browsing room, there’s also a roomy children’s section. The first event at the new library was a pre-school storytime session, and it was well-attended.
One of the parents watching her children was Kara Sutton, who grew up not far from the old East Marietta Library. She and her family live off Canton Road, and she brings her 4-1/2-year-old twins and a two-year-old to public libraries at least twice a week.
“We live closer to Gritters, and love it there,” she said. “But it’s great to have a newer space to visit.”
But the new branch is much more than a library with traditional library services. The “cultural center” component features visual and digital creative space, including a black box theater and an outdoor amphitheater where concerts and film screenings will be presented.
The opening events reflect that commitment to multi-media, including a photography class on the first evening, a comics workshop, enrichment sessions about classic filmmakers and classical music composers, as well as meetups for filmmakers and writers.
The cultural art space also includes “a digital maker space commons” with small recording rooms, an art gallery and art classrooms, conference and study rooms, a public computer room, a separate room for teenage-themed materials and a cafe.
There will be a formal ribbon-cutting for the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center at 2 p.m. on Jan. 9. It has the same hours as the former East Marietta Library:
- Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.;
- Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.;
- Saturday, 1-6 p.m.;
- Closed Sunday.
Parking is available behind the building, as work crews finish paving the parking lot and complete the new entrance for Sewell Park Drive at the site of the former East Marietta Library.
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