After a long wait and much anticipation, Centerville residents will finally begin to see progress on the new Centerville branch of the Houston County Public Library System, progress which will have local readers in a new location on Gunn Road by this time next year.

Construction is scheduled to begin this month with the foundation to be laid in November and December. Work on the structure will begin in January and the building is scheduled to be completed in July 2010. The county has contracted International City Builders, Inc. of Warner Robins to oversee the project with a guaranteed maximum price of $3.1 million. International City Builders has been operating in Central Georgia since 1990. Funding for the project comes primarily through a state grant and the 2006 SPLOST.

“We are all looking forward to seeing some progress on this,” said Marsha Christie, the Director of the Houston County Public Library System. “Centerville is definitely in need of the space.”

The Centerville library branch is the smallest of the three in Houston County, but it covers an area enthusiastic for its services. The current Centerville Public Library, which has 100,687 items in its collection, is about 4,200 square feet while the new facility will be approximately 15,000 square feet.

The new facility will not only include space for the library to expand its collection, but also a variety of meeting rooms and comfortable reading areas. The design features open areas with large windows, providing readers with a view of the trees which will be planted around the new building.

“People are very excited about this,” said Pam Yates, President of the Houston County Friends of the Library. “Centerville is a growing area and a very literate area. It’s a small library but it’s always packed.”

The Friends of the Library is a volunteer organization dedicated to raising money to support local libraries, primarily through its annual Old Book Sale held in May each year at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry. The group has raised over $50,000 for Houston County libraries since 2005.

“When we pick up book donations for the sale,” said Yates referring to the red boxes located at each Houston County library branch for donations of used books, “the best quality books always come from Centerville.”

The library will not only serve Centerville, but will be convenient to the rapidly growing areas of northern and western Warner Robins.