Written by Sondra Presley, Branch Manager, Price Hill Branch Library
There are lots of changes happening at the library branch in Price Hill. While renovations and an expansion continue at the branch's home, the Price Hill Branch Library closed its doors March 13 at the temporary Price Hill Cincinnati Recreation Center (CRC) location due to Hamilton County's Stay at Home order.
During the Stay at Home order, branch staff continued to serve the Price Hill and local community through virtual programming, recorded videos, and answering customer emails and phone calls from the safety of staff members’ homes.
During the summer months, staff focused on finding ways to reach the Price Hill community without a physical location. This new experience allowed staff to partner with more than 20 local community partners to provide over 800 community members with summer learning materials.
We attended virtual community council meetings to update the community about the Price Hill Branch Library building project, and we partnered with community groups like Santa Maria and Your Store of the Queen City to distribute free books, Take & Make kits, and information about our services.
From the beginning and throughout the 2020-2021 school year, staff also continued to assist educators with teacher collections and educator digital services, and found innovative ways to reach educators and students through virtual class visits.
While the branch might not be physically open in the community right now, staff are happy to continue to be part of the collective community heartbeat, providing many vital resources. We owe a huge thank you our partners listed below. We couldn’t imagine serving the community without you all!
- Bethany House
- Boys & Girls Club (Price Hill and Dalton locations)
- CELC (Oyler)
- CELC (Cleves-Warsaw)
- Children’s Hospital
- Community Matters food distribution
- Cradle Cincinnati
- Educations Matters
- Elder
- A Fostered Child
- Holy Family
- Lower Price Hill Community Council
- Oyler School
- Price Hill Will
- Price Hill CRC
- Roberts Paideia
- Santa Maria
- Serenity Recovery Network
- Transformations CDC
- Turner Farms
- Your Store (Meiser's Market)
If you are an organization who’d like to explore ways we can team up to better serve the community, or if you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Sondra Presley, Branch Manager of the Price Hill Branch Library.
Creating New Space for Community
While we no longer have a physical temporary home, Price Hill staff have used this opportunity to assist other branches throughout the library system all while strengthening their technology, programming, customer service and professional skills. These skills will allow Price Hill staff members to seamlessly transition back into the renovated location by spring 2021.
So far this $6.5 - $7.5 million project is slated to be on time and under budget, and the branch is nearly doubling in size to 12,100 square feet. The existing building is being renovated in a way that captures as many original features and architectural elements as possible, while being modernized to accommodate 21st-century technology and safety standards.
Both the renovated space and the new space are designed to be fully accessible to those with mobility challenges. This branch is intended to flex with a changing community while maintaining status as a regular and cherished local destination and resource. Its availability for materials, as well as physical space for meeting and gathering while physical distancing, will serve this community for years to come.
Price Hill and its surrounding communities are seeing a variety of community development efforts, like the arts corridor along Warsaw Avenue, the newly renovated Masonic Lodge that’s now the ARCO (arts + community) building, and the Price Hill Branch Library is located in the newly formed Historic District.
To stay up-to-date on the renovation and construction, visit the Price Hill page on our Next Generation Library section. We’re so excited to continue on the journey to making these dreams a reality, and to create a new space where all community members can learn without limits.
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