Virginia Room Makeover in the Works at Downtown Library

If you’ve been to the Roanoke City main library on Jefferson recently you may noticed several changes. For starters, the mezzanine area has been painted in a stately maroon and black motif, and filled with computer workstations that can be wheeled out for programs staged there, like the Emerging Artist series. Umberger has spoken about the mezzanine upgrade at library conferences, stressing its multi-use capability.

That was Phase 1 of a renovation effort; the $25,000 project also included new shelving, new carpet and a wall mural in a separate computer lab. A laptop area with receptacles where people can plug in computers, cell phones, etc. was also added.

Meanwhile, the Virginia Room, a treasure trove of historical documents, maps, records, ledgers and photographs, is undergoing a $35,000 renovation that should be completed by August 17th. “We call it Phase 2,” said Roanoke City’s Director of Libraries, Sheila Umberger. The library’s reference area was also moved to the mezzanine and combined with the circulation department, giving the Virginia Room more square footage.

The original circulation desk from the Terry House library that once stood on the Elmwood Park site adjacent to the current library will also be used in the remodeled research area. “Its nice to be able to make those [special] touches,” said Umberger. She wants to add a café somewhere down the road.

The Virginia Room “really needed more space,” said Umberger, noting that its former home was first occupied in 1984. Expansion “will make the service even better.” Genealogists, who may want to discuss what they have uncovered while researching the Virginia Room archives, can use a new conference room.

An archival workroom will be created with the removal of a microfilm area and new shelving will provide a home for books there is no place for now. That new space will allow important historical artifacts “to be laid out in a safe, secure location,” said Umberger. The Roanoke Public Library Foundation, which “has been fabulous over the years,” according to Umberger, helped fund the research area renovations.

She has big plans for the future: upgrades to the Raleigh Court and Williamson Road libraries, then construction of the new “superbranch” on Peters Creek Road. “We need to take care of our current facilities [first],” said Umberger, noting that the north city corridor where the superbranch will be built is currently underserved.

The larger space under construction will give librarians more room to process donated items, like the boxes of Kiwanis Club records recently accepted. “We’re really excited about that,” said Laura S. Wickstead, the Virginia Room Librarian. New tables, chairs and reading lamps will give the research room a more stately air. “The Virginia Room will be our quiet area,” said Umberger, noting that elsewhere in the library teen programs, computer classes and the like are a bit louder.

A company in Greensboro, using donations from the Library Foundation, recently restored an 1889 map of Roanoke. “We have a good collection of maps,” said Wickstead, who hopes to use some of them for an exhibit in the future.

The updated research area/Virginia Room will be repainted with a tile floor in one entrance hall. Eventually reprints of photos and maps in the possession of the library will be sold from a small store.  “Our goal is to make this building as attractive [as possible],” said Umberger, noting that it opened in 1952, “and to use [more] parts of the building.”

Wickstead said “a wide variety [of people],” come to the Virginia Room, from college students looking at old census roles, to “classic genealogists,” usually retired people that have the time to track family history.  Others want to research the history of buildings and homes in Roanoke, finding the Virginia Room the ideal place to do that.

One regular at the library has been tracing her African American roots for a while, a journey that may take her to the Library of Virginia in Richmond. “Very exciting,” said Wickstead, noting that libraries are not museums – so visitors can get hands-on access to historic material, not just look at it.

“We’re working towards creating a space that’s really a research area, for people doing serious work,” said Wickstead, “and need[ing] a quiet place to do that.”

By Gene Marrano
[email protected]

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