: The Parkway Village Branch did not have a meeting room to accommodate large groups. The branch also lacked a children’s program area, so children’s programs had to take place out on the floor.

An unused storage and workroom area was cleaned out and made over into a multipurpose space. It became a study area, a space where customers could use their laptop computers, a children’s program area, a meeting room that could accommodate groups of 25-30, and the area for free tax preparation assistance. Funds were requested from the Friends to build a wall to make the space even better. Another branch, Frayser, already had a meeting room but expanded use of it to allow for laptops and study when it was not reserved for a group.

These branches redefined how they could use existing resources at little or no additional cost to create or expand public meeting space.