The North Village Branch Library is a new 11,400 sq. ft. building that serves five North Austin Neighborhoods. A modern branch library is a multi-functional building: it contains meeting rooms, reading areas, lounge areas and staff work spaces. In addition to books, it also offers complementary services in electronic media, books on tape, CDs, DVDs and a variety of reference resources. Aside from being a great place to read, there are 25 personal computers, many with high-speed internet connections.
Prior to beginning the design, Limbacher & Godfrey was commissioned by the Library Department to write a modern program for all branch libraries, and North Village was the first to incorporate those principles. The program took significant cues from upscale bookstores, with collections prominently displayed and an emphasis on customer service and computers. Extending that logic, the program stressed a need for areas dedicated to youth and children. Self-service check-out was introduced to Austin’s library system with this program. This branch library is the first to be built in Austin under this new programmatic vision.
