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Central Library

ABOUT THIS LOCATION

Central Library, located in Shepherdsville, KY, serves as the central Bullitt County Public Library location and administrative offices. It officially opened to the public on September 17, 2022.

Features & Services:

  • Anytime Pickup Locker
  • Chromebook & hotspot checkouts
  • Conference rooms  Reserve a Room
  • Comfortable booth and group seating areas throughout the building
  • Community Care Cabinets
  • Digital Media Lab
  • Drive-through book returns
  • EV charging stations (at no charge)
  • Exhibit spaces
  • Copy, fax, printing, scanning & laminating services
  • Curbside Pickup service
  • GO! Totes
  • Library of Things with a demo & play area
  • Local History Room
  • Maker Lab
    (includes 3D printer, Cricut, Sewing Machine, Sublimation Printer, and more)
  • Meeting rooms   Reserve a Room
  • Outdoor courtyards
    (includes Earth Garden, Water Garden, Fire Garden, and a Wind Garden with percussive play for the kiddos)
  • PlaySpace in the children’s area with an Everbright, toys, and special rotating activities
  • Public computers & free Wi-Fi
    (computer labs are located in the children’s and teen areas, with a staffed lab in front of the adult section)
  • Rain Garden oasis in front parking lot
  • Reference services & research help  E-mail Kat   E-mail Alex
  • Self-checkout stations
  • Solar panels and other energy-saving features, with a digital information display in the lobby
  • StoryWalk
  • Study rooms  Reserve a Room
  • Teen gaming consoles
    (available consoles include NES Classic, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox)
  • Test proctoring
  • Video & Board Game collections

Special Accessibility Features Include:

  • Everbright in children’s area
    This interactive display acts like a giant Lite Brite with rotating dials and colors. It is accessible and inclusive to all—from children to seniors with memory care or people with behavioral health issues, traumatic brain injury, sensory integration, and autism. It can be especially calming for special needs and autism. People love having the ability to slowly control the interaction while engaging in sensory discovery without overstimulation. 
  • Magnifier in adult computer lab
  • Motorized scooters
  • Motorized work surfaces for height adjustment and accessibility
  • Sound loop, including the Listen Everywhere app enabled, in the meeting rooms

Get to know the collections layout at Central Library!


FAQs

Why did we need a new library?

Short answer: We want to provide Bullitt County with the amazing library it deserves—including plenty of space for large-scale events, space for workforce development, and space for using and exploring new technologies. Oh, and enough parking to accommodate all those events and services!

Long answer:

This project was a long time in the making and is necessary to keep up with the growth of the county. Upon completion, the new Central Library replaced our Ridgway Memorial location. Ridgway Memorial Library served our community well since 1963, but we outgrew the building as the population, needs, and expectations of the Shepherdsville and Bullitt County communities evolved.

The square footage of the “old” library and collective BCPL system was actually much smaller than is recommended by state guidelines for a service population of our size, especially when considering the projected population in 2040 and beyond. More space was needed for staff, for collections, and for public meeting and collaboration spaces. In conjunction with our four branch locations in Hillview, Lebanon Junction, Mt. Washington, and Nichols, Central Library serves the entirety of Bullitt County’s 82,000 residents. It will be instrumental in accommodating larger-scale events like concerts and festivals that may not fit at branch locations, and it offers a wider variety of meeting spaces for different-sized groups and a more expansive core library collection. It also allowed us to bring essential staff and departments from our annex facility back together in one building for more effective communications and operations.

It must also be noted that the facility at Ridgway Memorial has structural issues which, as time passes, would cause real safety concerns or necessitate a massive, disruptive, and costly rebuild. Parking at the current facility for larger events or on certain court dates was also a frequent challenge for both patrons and staff. The new location addresses all of these challenges and provides our community with a beautiful facility that everyone can enjoy.

What will happen to Ridgway Memorial Library? What about the Dorothea Stottman Annex in Hillview?
The Ridgway Memorial property is currently involved in legal proceedings, so we cannot comment at this time on how it will be utilized moving forward. Our hope is that it can be repurposed in a new way to benefit the community at large.
Although we have moved staff from the annex to our new Central location, the Hillview facility is being used for storage and staging for furniture and equipment as we continue to execute the Library’s Facilities Master Plan. We also intend to use the space in the future for initiatives organized by the Friends of the Bullitt County Public Library.
What's happening with the 24 Hour Library?

For the time being, we continue to operate and restock the 24 Hours Library in its current location behind Ridgway Memorial. We also offer a 24 Hour Library at our Nichols location and and Anytime Pickup Locker at the new Central Library.

How big is Central Library? What did it cost?

At approximately 45,000 square feet, the new facility is designed to accommodate decades of continued population growth.

The facility cost a total of $10.5 million. A bond issue for $7.7 million—at a historically low rate—took place in 2020 to fund the building; the remainder of the project cost has come from the Library’s reserve fund.

How will the building impact the environment?

The new facility was built with several green and energy-saving features, including:

  • Geothermal HVAC
  • “Smart” comfort, acoustical, and light controls
  • A solar panel array that will essentially power the building

An energy information station in the lobby allows patrons and staff to see how these features and operations are making a difference.

What about outdoor space?

Four garden courtyards reflect the four seasons and four elements: Spring/Wind, Autumn/Fire, Water/Summer, Earth/Winter.

The plantings in each area are meant to shine in the given season. Although not all of the plants are native, many native plants have been included in the design, including chokecherry, black-eyed Susan, dogwood, redbud, serviceberry, summersweet, and winterberry.

Central Library

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740 Conestoga Parkway
Shepherdsville,  KY  40165  United States

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