A controversy is brewing in Cobb County, Georgia, over which three of its 15 branch libraries will be closed next year when a new regional library opens.
County commissioners are eyeing five possibilities: Acworth, Kemp, Stratton, Kennesaw, and Hattie Wilson. The mayors of Kennesaw and Acworth are planning meetings and threatening to hold marches to preserve their branches. “We have citizens who have walked to the library for over 30 years,” Acworth Mayor Marcia Andruzzi told the May 25 Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The newspaper reported county commissioners approved the construction of a $2.5-million, 20,000-square-foot library in west Cobb last year and warned that some branches would be closed.
Commission chairman Bill Byrne said a newly installed $3.75-million computer system makes it too expensive to keep all of the small branches open. The commission will probably make the decision in mid-June.
Posted May 31, 1999.