By: Eliana Morales
Collegedale’s public library, the Katie Lamb Public Library, held a Grand Reopening Celebration on Sept. 18, after months of closure for renovations. The event featured a ribbon cutting, silent auction fundraiser, scavenger hunt and a bookmark craft station.
“We saw lots of regulars that we hadn’t seen in several months,” said Sarah Richardson, director of operations and engagement. “It was really fun to see the kids explore the bigger children’s area and then to see families who were new to the area. It was just really nice to catch up with a lot of the community.”
Renovations
According to the City of Collegedale, renovations were needed due to a significant increase in community usage and program participation. Librarians said these changes were the first major renovations since breaking ground in 1993.
Updates include a new layout, fresh carpet and paint, an expanded meeting room, three private study rooms, an expanded children’s area, a new circulation desk, a lounge area under the sunroof and a business center.
“They did a marvelous job,” said Stanley Cottrell, technical services librarian at Southern’s McKee Library and board member of the Katie Lamb Public Library.
“[Study rooms] were a huge request from the community for a long time,” Richardson said. “It was amazing to be able to make this happen. We’ve seen people already using this space just right and left.”
Other librarians have noticed how the new study rooms solve past noise issues.
“Our quiet area wasn’t the best before,” said Bailey Thrasher, “so this affords them more privacy.”
After work began in May of this year, a temporary pop-up library was set up in the East Room of City Hall. Also, while renovations were underway, the McKee Library partnered with the public library to provide study space, work areas, tutoring support and access to computers and Wi-Fi.
According to ConstructConnect, a construction project database, the renovation was estimated at $419,814, to be funded by the city. On Aug. 22, the Chattanoogan.com reported that Collegedale Commissioner Laura Howse, who also sits on the city’s library board, facilitated a grant of up to $200,000 from the State of Tennessee for the renovation.
Katie Lamb
Former mayor and Collegedale Commissioner Katie Lamb, after whom the library is named, cut the ribbon at the Grand Reopening Celebration. Lamb was elected as a city commissioner in 2009 and later became Collegedale’s first female mayor in 2014. Lamb voluntarily stepped down in 2021 and resumed her role as commissioner until November 2024.
City officials signed a resolution on Oct. 7, 2024, to rename the Collegedale Public Library after Lamb.
The document states: “The Collegedale City Commission desires to recognize the extraordinary contributions that Katie Lamb has made to the Collegedale Community at large as an outstanding citizen, as a member of the faculty of Southern Adventist University, and as Mayor and as City Commissioner for the City of Collegedale. … Katie is loved and appreciated by an overwhelming majority of Collegedale citizens and is always there to assist in any way. … Katie’s love of her community and for learning makes renaming the public library a fitting tribute to all the contributions she has made.”
In City of Collegedale’s press release regarding the renovations, Lamb stated: “Saving the library was one of the best investments the Collegedale Commissioners have made.”
Programs
The library’s website shows a variety of activities for the community, from a Dungeons and Dragons club to Kitten Storytime. STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) programs are also offered for all ages. Past events for adults include cupcake wars, mahjong, crafts and game nights.
According to its website, the library also encourages children to read and tailors its programs to different developmental stages. The literacy initiative “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” encourages parents to expose their children to reading early on. The library offers year-round scavenger hunts, educational computer games and coloring books.
Community members can join Friends of the Katie Lamb Public Library, a nonprofit part of the national Friends of the Library network. The local group’s objectives, as stated on its website, include creating public interest in the library, fostering community relations, providing knowledge of services, offering programs and fundraising. Membership cost is $10 for students and seniors and $20 for all others. Both rates are tax-deductible and fund programs not in the regular budget, such as a subscription to the statewide eBook system, Tennessee READS.
The importance of libraries
“[Having a library] is very important,” Cottrell said. “A literate, well-informed community is a better one.”
Thrasher said: “It’s a place for people to come where they’re always accepted no matter what, and they don’t have to spend money. Third spaces are very rare these days, and we are one. You can come however you are, and we accept you here.”
Thrasher also expressed a personal connection to libraries.
“I have loved reading since I was little, and I would not be able to afford to read as much as I do without a library,” she said. “Seeing the kids, having adults come in here—and we get to chat about books we love—it brings me so much joy to work here.”
Richardson expressed a similar sentiment.
“I think libraries have really evolved into community centers,” she said. “They’re not quiet places anymore. They’re hustling and bustling with projects, programming, meetings, patrons and kids having fun. We see the same faces a lot of times, week after week, and we get to know people by name. It’s really rewarding to watch kids grow and to watch people meet each other and develop relationships.”
