Wesley Chapel Library Archives — Neighborhood News

The Pasco County Libraries’ newest addition — the Wesley Chapel (WC) Library at Seven Oaks — is finally open (after nearly two full years of construction) and pretty much everyone we spoke with since the library opened on Feb. 23 has been thrilled with the cozy new 14,000-sq.-ft. (with a 13,000-sq.-ft. interior; the other 1,000 sq. ft. is a covered outdoor “reading porch”), $11-million library.

“It’s a little smaller than I expected,” said one young mom, “but this children’s reading area (photo, above and below left picture) is amazing!”

Although branch manager Julie Shepherd (at right in right photo) couldn’t tell me on opening day exactly how large that children’s area is, but, by my estimate, it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000-sq.- ft. If accurate, that would mean it takes up more than a third of the library’s inside space, with shelves full of cool kids books and interesting spaces for parents to read to their kids.

But, the library’s overall size is a little small, especially when compared with the Land O’Lakes Library (18,000+ sq. ft.) or the New Tampa Regional Library (25,000-sq. ft.).

“But, I think it’s a wonderful space,” said Roz Fenton (below right photo), the president of the countywide Friends of the Library, who was on hand for the opening. “Did you see the art on the entrance walls? That was all done by Pasco County Library staff members. Fabulous, right?”

In addition to books, magazines and the “Library of Things” — a collection of non-traditional, check-outable items, including adaptive toys, Wi-Fi hotspots, ukuleles, bird-watching kits and board games designed for enrichment and exploration — the library also features public computers, printers, collaborative spaces, a gallery wall in the lobby, an outdoor event lawn and a multi-purpose room for makerspace and other activities.

*Pasco Library Friends president Roz Fenton*

There’s also a sizable meeting room, and a number of study rooms, including a specially-designed teen study room. Drive-up services also are available at this location, which has its entrance on Mystic Oak Blvd., next to Seven Oaks Elementary.

There’s no doubt that the opening day was a soft opening, attended by only a few dozen people — many of whom (including Jannah and yours truly) were signing up for library cards — and that all of the new library’s programming wasn’t yet in place.

Here are the activities scheduled for the rest of March & April at the WC Library:

Thursday, March 19, 4 p.m. — Wesley Chapel Book Club: The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Every Tuesday, 10:30 a.m. — Preschool Story Time

Every Friday, 10:30 a.m. — Toddler Story Time

Monday, March 23, 4 p.m. — Teen Advisory Board & Volunteer Info Session

Wednesday, March 25, 6 p.m. — Adult Volunteer Info Session

Wednesday, April 15, 4:30 p.m. — Adult Literacy New Tutor Training

Thursday, April 16, 4 p.m. — Wesley Chapel Book Club: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Wednesdays, April 22 & 29, 6 p.m. — English Conversation Corner

Wednesday, April 29, 5 p.m. — Adult Volunteer Orientation

What About Those ‘Makerspaces?’

“We’re going to be hosting our ‘Mobile Makerspace’ at the Wesley Chapel branch,” Shepherd told me the day the WC Library opened. “The idea is to bring the best of all of our other makerspaces to Wesley Chapel and offer a variety of different services.”

Among those makerspaces, each of which will be making appearances at the WC Library in the future, are the following:

• “The Loft” studio arts, painting, photo digitalization and arts & crafts, from the Centennial Park Library

• “The Ingenuity Lab” STEAM area, with KEVA planks & LEGO® bricks, from the Hugh Embry Library

• “Studio H” multimedia studio for record demos & podcasts and to practice instruments, from the Hudson Library

*Part of the Pasco Library staff Art Show*

• “The Foundry” complete wood shop, plus fabric arts & crafts center, from the Land O’Lakes Library

• “Discovery Gardens” community garden, butterfly garden & gardening demonstrations, from the New River Library

• “Regency Fresh” full test kitchen with cooking demonstrations and the chance to try new recipes, from the Regency Park Library

• “Clayworks” ceramics studio, from the Starkey Ranch Theatre Library Cultural Center

Shepherd also said that the large lawn outside of the library will be able to host a variety of cultural events, including concerts, movie nights and more. “And, we definitely will have a great relationship with the [Seven Oaks] elementary school next door,” Shepherd said. “The children’s reading area will be open anytime the library is and we will be able to host story times and even kids’ performances in that room.”

The Wesley Chapel Library at Seven Oaks is located at 27531 Mystic Oak Blvd. It is open Mon. & Wed. 10 a.m.-8 p.m., 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. on Tues. & Thur. & 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Fri. & Sat. It is closed on Sun. For more info, visit PascoLibraries.org.

“The mission of a library is one of connection,” said Pasco County Library System director Sean McGarvey at the groundbreaking event for the Wesley Chapel Library at Seven Oaks — to about 50 people in the audience — on Apr. 12. “We connect people to what is important…in four fundamental ways. We connect people to knowledge, to the culture of the community, to economic opportunity and, most importantly, we connect people to each other.”

McGarvey served as the Master of Ceremonies for the groundbreaking event to showcase the architectural renderings for the new library, which will begin construction within the next month or so on a vacant lot adjacent to Seven Oaks Elementary. The 14,000-sq.-ft., $11 million library, designed by Fleischman Garcia Architects, is being built by Bandes Construction and will have a number of unique features that will make it a “hub of the world,” according to McGarvey, who also introduced the groundbreaking event’s other speakers.

Pasco County Library System director Sean McGarvey

The first was Pasco County Board of Commissioners (BOC) chair Ron Oakley, whose District 1 includes part of Wesley Chapel.

Oakley said that when he first became a county commissioner eight years ago, he was told, “We need to save money in the county, so we need to cut out libraries. They’re not needed…everybody’s got a computer. But, I said, ‘I personally think everybody doesn’t have a computer and all of our citizens love libraries. It’s just amazing what is provided by our library system. The use of this library here in this community is going to be amazing.”

Before then introducing Commissioner Seth Weightman, whose District 2 includes all of Seven Oaks, McGarvey said, “I can not wait to see what the stories of the connections that this building will build for everybody else who will use it…from the kids at the school next door, to the citizens of Pasco County to the members of this community, to the business community at large. I can not wait to see what this building will create for the community.”

Weightman then thanked retired Pasco Commissioner Mike Moore (Weightman’s Dist. 2 predecessor), “for allowing me to be here today and celebrating the work that you did over the course of your time to (make this library happen). What a fantastic community ‘add’ here to Seven Oaks. And, to the citizens of Seven Oaks, because of your community and your drive and your watchful eye, we’re proud to bring this to all the folks here in Wesley Chapel.

Weightman then introduced former Comm. Moore, “because this was his baby.”

Moore said, “This (library) was a long time in the making. Part of the Seven Oaks development agreement back then (in 2004) was this site, which was always supposed to be a library. The county commission was very, very supportive of this project when I was on the Board and what I’m most grateful for is that once I left, the next Board came

in and continued with the project. Sometimes, what we see in government, is that when people leave, sometimes projects don’t move forward and they stall, but they (the new BOC) saw the benefit of having this library.”

The former commissioner added, “This library is going to be a meeting place, a place where adults and kids alike will learn, a place where you’ll have gatherings…there will be social events, civic events…and classes for seniors, adults and children.”

Moore also thanked the team from Bandes Construction, “that is actually going to build this facility. Hopefully, it won’t take a year and a half, since materials are easier to get now….but thank you so much for all the support. And, we really are excited as a community that this is going to service not just Seven Oaks, but all of Wesley Chapel and Pasco County.”

Moore also thanked his former aide Andy Taylor, for his part in making the library happen.

McGarvey then called up all of the speakers, plus county administrator Mike Carballa, Taylor, the representatives on hand from not only Bandes Construction, but also from U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee and State Sen. Danny Burgess’ offices, as well as other Pasco Library System employees for the ceremonial tossing of the dirt.

After the ceremony, McGarvey told the Neighborhood News that actual construction of the Wesley Chapel Library at Seven Oaks would begin later this month and that the expected completion date for it was the end of 2025.

Paula Wahl, the business compliance & contracts manager for the Pasco Library System, said that among the new library’s unique features will be a separate construction project of a trail that will be artistically designed to look like you’re walking through the pages of a book. There also will be, “an outdoor ‘reading porch’ overlooking the walkway. We also will have a flexible space that will be able to host ‘maker activities.’ Where many of our other libraries have very specific makerspaces — woodshop, video production studio, cooking programs and so on — this library actually will have a special parking space for our mobile makerspace, similar to the van we have here today, specially outfitted to bring activities from each of those out into the community. All of those other library makerspaces have mobile activities that we can bring out into the community here.”

For more information, visit PascoLibraries.org.