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Arbutus Library study rooms an attractive, rare feature

While this meeting room at the Arbutus Library was empty on Feb. 16, library staff say the two meeting rooms at the facility on Sulphur Spring Road are very popular with community groups, professionals and students and teachers. The Arbutus Library is one of only five libraries in the county that offer the large rooms to the public.
While this meeting room at the Arbutus Library was empty on Feb. 16, library staff say the two meeting rooms at the facility on Sulphur Spring Road are very popular with community groups, professionals and students and teachers. The Arbutus Library is one of only five libraries in the county that offer the large rooms to the public. (Staff photo by Jen Rynda)

"Shhhhh!"

The stereotypical librarian's refrain is no longer necessary at Arbutus Library, thanks to the presence of its two study rooms.

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The rooms, available for use by any group, are an amenity only five of the 18 libraries in Baltimore County have.

The rooms were installed during the construction of the library, which was completed in August 2010.

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Library director Gail Ross said the popularity of the rooms has increased to the point where they occasionally have people waiting for another group to finish using the room.

The two 15- by 15-foot rooms in the 25,000-square-foot facility were used 82 times in December, Ross said.

Each rooms has a white board, tables and several chairs.

Rooms must be booked on the spot by parties of two to 14 and are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, Ross said.

That number dipped to 59 in January, but the rooms had 62 uses through the first 16 days of February, Ross said.

Ross speculated that the winter breaks at the nearby University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Community College of Baltimore County, whose Catonsville campus is within a mile of the library, were the reason for the low January total.

The library's proximity to Interstate 95 and large amount of parking spaces likely also are factors in the popularity of the rooms, Ross said.

"The guidelines are that they're for group study," Ross said. "But that term hardly encompasses all the different uses the community is making with these rooms."

Professionals meet clients, students receive tutoring or work on group assignments, social groups have meetings and once a father and daughter reunited after years of separation from each other, Ross said.

"They love (the rooms) because it gives you privacy, but it's a glass wall so you can feel safe in the building if you're in there with a stranger," Ross said.

The rooms are used for a maximum of two hours, Ross noted, but if no one is waiting that time can be extended.

"We see the rooms as part of our mission to be a community center and a hub for the community of all kinds of learning activities," Ross said.

In addition to Arbutus, libraries in Perry Hall, Randallstown, Towson and Woodlawn are the only others in Baltimore County that have meeting rooms, said Bob Hughes, a spokesman for the Baltimore County libraries.

"The group study room concept is one that we've included in each of the branches that has been built or updated since 2010," Hughes said.

"At all five of the branches where we've included them since 2010, they've almost been constantly in use," Hughes said. "It's an absolutely wonderful opportunity for the community to get together and do community business or personal business."

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