VIEWFINDER: LFP's New, Expanded Library

About 120 people gathered to get a sneak peek at the newly expanded Lake Forest Park Library Thursday evening at Lake Forest Park Town Center.

Kari Glover, president of the King County Library System Foundation, lives in Lake Forest Park's Sheridan Beach, and said having a new library in the core of the city is a "gift."

"I live here, this is my library," said Glover. "I think it's an amazing treasure for this community," 

The invitees drank wine and munched on Hors d'oeuvres while touring the new library which has been closed for construction since August. The grand opening to the public will take place Jan. 7. A makeshift library to pick-up books has been set up since last summer and will in operation until the library offically opens next month.

The library, originally 3,635 square feet, has expanded west by 2,206 square feet as the $1.3 million project took shape. New teen and children's sections, as well as a multi-purpose room that seats 28 are featured. A cyber bar featuring a bank of computers lines the south wall. Sections for fiction, non-fiction, periodicals, music and DVDs are featured prominently. A water theme representing Lake Washington was featured prominently in the design by archietects Hutteball & Oremus of Kirkland. Waves are portrayed on the glass surrounding the outside and inside.

Valentina Visscher of Lake Forest Park, who has two children, an eighth-grader and sixth-grader, Arianna and Marieke, said her family has used the library for story time, summer reading and homework help. 

She especially liked the new teen and children's sections. 

"It blew me away. We're excited to see the new space because it's grown with our children," Visscher said. 

Lake Forest Park is one of the most heavily used KCLS libraries, KCLS director Bill Ptacek, said.

The project was funded by a $172 million King County Library System capital bond passed by the voters in Sept. 2004. CDK Construction of Duvall was the contractor on the project.