Community Corner
Ellicott City Miller Branch Library Closing Oct. 1
The library will be closed for at least two months as it moves to a new building, shared with the Historical Society
Ellicott City residents who frequent the on Frederick Road will have to travel to Columbia or elsewhere for library services beginning Thursday, Oct. 1 until at least December, and maybe into 2012, according to the county.
That’s when the , located next to the current facility, will be open for business.
The gap will ensure that everything runs smoothly at the new building, including the installation of new equipment at high-tech facility.
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The current Miller Library was bustling during the last week in August as residents without power in their own residences benefited from computer and Internet access at the library. However, by word of mouth and signage, the library informed residents the facility will be closing next month closing on Oct. 1.
Sept. 30 will be the final day to pick up reserved items.
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The closing will begin to affect patrons sooner, however, because Sunday, Sept. 11 will be the last day that they will be able to order materials for transfer the Miller Branch.
After that, residents will have to travel outside of Ellicott City for library services; the closest branch is located in Columbia off Broken Land Parkway on 6600 Cradlerock Way. Another alternative is the Central Library located near the Columbia Mall but librarians acknowledge that parking is sometimes tight that facility.
Carol Cooper, a librarian currently working at the Miller branch, said residents will still be able to return books to the existing Miller facility after Oct. 1, although they will not be able to go inside. Reserves will default to the Cradlerock Way facility, she said, where she will be working.
Other librarians now working at Miller will be scattered throughout the Howard County system, she added, to handle the extra load anticipated when Miller’s patrons have to go elsewhere.
The current 23,800-square-foot facility will be re-purposed. Once the library moves out, several county departments, including human resources, will move in, according to Cooper.
The new facility will keep the same address, 9421 Frederick Road.
It will have a much larger quiet area compared to the current facility, which can get noisy when the library is crowded. Three thousand square feet of the building will be devoted to the, currently housed on Court Avenue near the Howard County Circuit Court House. There will also be automated check-out machines and a meeting room housing up to 300 people.
The Charles E. Miller facility is the oldest in the Howard County library system, dating back to 1962.
