Southwest Raleigh residents meet to discuss fate of Athens Drive Community Library

History, a strong sense of community and the ties that bind generations together were evident early Thursday night when more than 200 people gathered to express their support for one of the most unique libraries in the state of North Carolina.

The library’s supporters say that the Wake County Board of Commissioners – “without any community involvement” – announced last month that Athens Drive Community Library, housed inside Athens Drive High School, would no longer be open to the public after July 26.

Thursday’s event was one in a series of meetings being held to rally the community in support of keeping the library open to the public, according to Yevonne Brannon, one of the leaders of the nonprofit Citizens for Athens Drive Library. Three of the Wake County commissioners – Caroline Sullivan, John Burns and Matt Calabria – attended the meeting.

Sullivan, the vice chair of the board, arranged for the meeting and read a joint statement from Wake County manager Jim Hartmann and Wake County schools superintendent James Merrill.

“Following community feedback, the county and the school system will continue working together to determine how the county can provide high-quality public library service at Athens Drive High School,” the statement read in part. “While this joint effort moves forward, we will offer public library service on the current schedule until the new school year begins in August. Once classes are in session, we anticipate opening the school library to the public during afternoon, evening and weekend hours until we develop a final solution.”

County leaders have said they want to close the library because of security concerns, but school officials have said there have been no safety incidents reported by the school.

“I’m much more concerned about the high school kids than other people coming to use the library,” said Karolyn Hilts, who’s son, Connor Leeson, is a rising sophomore at the school.

Some supporters called the library a cornerstone of the Southwest Raleigh community since 1980. They want county leaders to postpone the closing date and seek community input for a long-term solution.

“This library inspired two parent volunteers, three graduates of this school and a former library assistant to go on and get graduate degrees in library science,” said Liz Hubbe, who started as a parent volunteer at the school.

While earning her graduate degree in library science, Hubbe said she found that teens who had access to a joint school and public library read more often and used the library more often.

“Any school media center has a book collection,” she said, “but this one is special because the students have available the resources of the entire Wake County Library System.”

Athens Drive student Eileen Price, who will serve as student body president in the fall, described the library as “a safe place where I can stay after school and do homework and read a book.”

Another teen, Liam Pongracz, lives a five-minute walk from the library.

“I’d like to keep it open,” he said. “It’s just really convenient...for all the people around here.”

County commissioners wanted the community to consider other options for the library, including encouraging residents of the community to use the Cameron Village branch nearly four miles away.

Bahati Mathias, whose two elementary-age children use the library, echoed the sentiments of many when she described the Cameron Village branch as “congested” with limited parking.

“Here they can complete their homework before they get home,” Mathias said. “At Cameron Village, you have to wait for the computers and then can only use them for a set time limit.”

Members of the library citizens group demanded that county leaders not only keep the facility open, but enhance it.

“Our preference is to keep the Athens Drive Library open, fully functional, seven days a week,” Brannon said.

“There’s no overlooking of this community right now,” Brannon said. “Closing this library practically eliminates children, seniors...shutting them out of library services.”

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Southwest Raleigh residents meet to discuss fate of Athens Drive Community Library."