Library to Return With Eye on New Readers

Rust Branch to Reopen After 2-Year Renovation

Loudoun County will have a new chill spot where teenagers can socialize and play video games: Rust Library.

The library, on Old Waterford Road in Leesburg, is scheduled to reopen Saturday with new features including an enclosed teen center and expanded children's area.

It closed in summer 2007 to undergo a $10.4 million renovation. During construction, the library had moved to a temporary location in a former video store on Catoctin Circle.

Rust has nearly doubled in size, from 23,000 square feet to 42,900 square feet. It added 90,000 materials to its collection of books, music and Blu-ray discs.

The library boasts 10 study rooms, more than 70 public computers, including a 15-seat computer lab, and a meeting room with a 260-person capacity. Library users who prefer to take their laptops will have access to Rust's wireless Internet service.

One of the library's biggest additions is the 4,000-square-foot teen center. The center is designed like a cyber cafe with lime green and black cushioned booths and round tables with rows of computers. It also has two rooms for group study sessions and a separate lounge area with a flat-screen television where teenagers can take a study break and play video games. Teen magazines line the center's shelves along with classic novels.

About five years ago, Rust's teen advisory board made suggestions on the center's design to library architects, said Linda Holtslander, a division manager of the Loudoun library system.

"They wanted it to look like Starbucks," she said.

Douglas A. Henderson, library system director, said county officials hope to reinvent the library's image to teenagers.

"Teens were considered the lost generation of the library," he said. "What we're trying to do is meld the social [element] into a library setting. We want this to be a lively, interactive location for them."

The teen center is adjacent to Rust's expanded children's area, which is painted in bright orange and blue hues and has a new story-time room with a projector.

Another new feature is Rust's self-check-in system that uses radio frequency identification technology. The system allows library users to drop books down a computerized chute that automatically checks the books back in.