STAFFORD — Germanna Community College (GCC) and Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) have teamed up to provide Stafford County with a joint-use library for the Community College students and Regional Library members.
The library will be located at the Stafford Center of Germanna officially known as Barbara J. Fried Center, located at124 Old Potomac Church Road. The library will officially open August 20 with a “Welcome Back Students” event planned for August 18.
“This is the first joint-use Library CRRL has ever been involved with,” said Martha Hutzel, Director of Central Rappahannock Regional Library. We have a branch in a shared building in the Marshall Center at Spotsylvania Courthouse and now a brand new one inside the Spotsylvania Towne Centre, but we run those ourselves. It’s similar but not quite the same!”
The center is located next to a new development, the Abberly Waterstone Apartment Homes located just south of Stafford Hospital. The new center will replace the old Germanna center in Aquia Park on Route 1.
According to Hutzel, the library first got its start several years ago when then Stafford County Administrator Anthony Romanello and then GCC College President Dr. David Sam opened discussions about having a shared, or joint use library, between GCC and CRRL at the future GCC Stafford Center. Funds were given to the CRRL and to GCC to partner on a shared library space.
“The future is now and there is a small branch at the Barbara J. Fried Center,” Hutzel said. “Shared spaces also save money and avoid duplication of efforts.”
Both GCC students and members of CRRL will be able to use the library.
All library members will be able to use the library, Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Germanna students will be able to use the library from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
“This will be a wonderful service to both students and community members and will have evening and Saturday hours making access to library services available to all,” Hutzel said.
The Regional Library hopes to expand to multiple places in Stafford County in order to attract new readers.
“Eventually we hope to have a much larger branch in the Stafford Courthouse area, either near or part of a larger GCC Stafford Campus,” Hutzel said. “My dream would be to achieve a space similar to that in the future in order to offer something for everyone in the Stafford Courthouse area.”
Stafford now has three libraries within the Rappahannock Regional Library they are the Germanna branch, the Howell branch, and the Porter branch.
“Through this partnership, we are serving Stafford County in a whole new way while at the same time-saving resources through our collaboration,” said Dr. Janet Gullickson, President of Germanna Community College.
