The new Norman Public Library Central is open for business!

Readers came out in droves on a bright, sunshine-filled day for the library's Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening event Sunday.

Then they got to experience first-hand Norman's newest library, a three-story, 79,000 square foot facility that is an increase from 55,000 in the past central library, which opened in 1966, at a time Norman’s population numbered just about 30,000.

And it had quite an impact as hundreds upon hundreds of people got their first look inside Sunday.

"Really, this is a library?" a young boy exclaimed to his grandmother. 

Yes, yes it is.

Norman Central features meeting rooms, study rooms, a children’s programming room, a training lab and classroom, Friends of the Norman Library bookstore and a local history and genealogy space.

In all, the library houses a collection of about 270,000 items in an effort to better serve a city that today is home to about 125,000 residents.

The library is one of the projects made possible from the Norman Forward quality of life package, which was passed by Norman voters in 2015. Norman Public Library East, which opened in July 2018 at 3051 E. Alameda St., also was a library project that was funded through Norman Forward.

The new library has been a community project throughout, from the Norman Forward vote, to a series of public meetings hosted by the architectural firm for the library project, Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle. Feedback from these meetings helped to outline many of these functions and features members of the public wanted to see inside the library.

And many of the leaders from the years working on the project spoke at Sunday's grand opening, including Mayor Breea Clark, former Mayors Cindy Rosenthal and Lynne Miller, Pioneer Executive Director Lisa Wells, PLS Board of Trustees member Jonathan Fowler and Matthew Kruntorad, Principal at MS&R and lead architect on the design of the library.

As with many of the Norman Forward projects, Norman Central also features a public art installation. “Unbound,” located on the southwest side of the building, rises some 30 feet and depicts pages of a book flying into the air. The piece was designed by London-based artist Paul Cocksedge, who visited Norman for a dedication event in July.