Omaha’s new downtown library opens its doors for a tour

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Downtown Omaha’s newest library is set to open in just a few months.

6 News tagged along today with some excited students to get a first look at what the location’s looking like so far.

“We wanted to invite at least a class over to come and see this space so that the school and the community know that your library is almost ready to be reopened again,” said Stacy Lickteig with Omaha Public Libraries.

The two-story, 30,000-square-foot library was supposed to open this month.

“The more we dug in, the more rot we found so we have to replace the structure. So that kind of took a little longer than we anticipated,” a manager from the construction crew told 6 News.

Now, it’s set for some time in May, though an exact date was not given.

The design features exposed brick and beamed ceilings. There will be a story house for kids and a teen section for the big kids.

It will also include a reading room with curated collections, six meeting rooms, and two Zoom rooms.

The furniture isn’t yet in place, but they say it’ll be flexible.

“All of our shelving, all of our furniture, we can move it around so we can have all kinds of events here. While we had events at W. Dale Clark, we always had to think about the size. It was always kind of a struggle,” said Lickteig.

This will be considerably smaller because it’s a local branch, not the central location. The kids Wednesday didn’t seem fazed by that.

“What’s your favorite part of the library?” asked a librarian on the tour.

“My favorite part of the library is everything. I can’t wait for it to be open,” replied a student.

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