Tulsa Librarium Opens Doors, Genealogy Library Relocated

It was a big day across the Tulsa City-County Library System. A brand new, state of the art, building opened downtown Tuesday.

And movers were busy relocating the genealogy library to its new south Tulsa location, near Memorial and the Creek Turnpike.

Library moving specialists spent Tuesday stacking genealogy books and putting together shelves, while across town, the ribbon was cut and the doors were open for the Tulsa City-County Library System's newest building.

It's called The Librarium, a Latin word for "bookcase," but the building holds much more thank books. There are books on CD, a business center, even a special area displaying the latest technology.

9/2/2013 Related Story: Temporary 'Librarium' To Open During Central Library Renovation

The library says the facility is a glimpse at what the new Central Library will look like in two years.

"This is why we call this is our test site. We're able to test the new layout of how things work," said Chief Innovation Officer Kim Johnson.

The Librarium is open everyday but Sunday, while the Central Library undergoes a two-year, $47 million renovation.

"Everything is new--the books, the DVDs, the books on CD, all the material is new, all of the furniture is new," Johnson said.

Johnson said the Librarium is what libraries will look like in the 21st Century. There are no service desks. Instead, librarians roam freely to help customers and allow them to check out a book anywhere in the building.

The goal is to open up space and make it easier for library patrons to move around.

"Customers will notice that it's very easy to navigate this library on their own if they so choose," Johnson said.

It's also a new look at Hardesty Regional Library, which is the new home for the library system's genealogy headquarters.

"We have microfilm and maps," said Genealogy librarian Kathy Huber.

Crews began moving more than 15,000 books and other research items on Monday.

Huber said that while the surroundings will be different, researchers won't notice any changes.

"We will have all of our same materials that we had. We'll have access to all of our computer databases that we had over there, as well as microfilm, microfilm readers, that kind of thing," Huber said.

Huber said there may still be books in boxes or shelves that need to be put together, but they're going to open this Thursday at 9 a.m. at Hardesty Library.