Clayton News Daily

Clayton County Library System Director Carol Stewart speaks at the grand opening ceremony for the new Forest Park library branch facility Sunday. Stewart said the building, which officially opens to the public Monday, is “amazing.”

FOREST PARK — One of the first things longtime Forest Park library patron Beverly Harris did upon arriving at the library’s new facility Sunday was to check out where all the books were placed.

Harris, a former librarian at the old Carnegie Library in Atlanta, said she has considered the Forest Park library to be “her library” for the last decade even though she lives in Atlanta. It has been her favorite library mostly because of its book collection, she said. However, she admits it was time for a new facility and she liked what she saw over the weekend.

“It’s larger and prettier than the old facility — and there are a lot more computers, which are becoming more and more popular in libraries,” Harris said. “I like the lighting and design that they have here. I’m just trying to figure out where each book category is at.”

Clayton County Library System officials held a grand opening ceremony for the new Forest Park library branch, located at 4812 West St., Sunday. It is scheduled to officially open to the public for the first time at 9 a.m. Monday and it replaces the existing 44-year old library facility on Main Street.

About 50 dignitaries from the county government, library board, state library system, the city of Forest Park and other surrounding cities gathered around the circulation desk at the new facility to hear Clayton County Library System Director Carol Stewart brag about the new library.

“This is — to me — a lovely, amazing building and I’m so proud of this building,” Stewart said. “I’m so happy for the Forest Park community and the northeast part of the county to have this beautiful facility.”

Read the Wednesday edition of Clayton News Daily for more details on the opening of the new Forest Park Library branch. Also, go to spotted.news-daily.com for a gallery of photos from the grand opening ceremony.