Miami-Dade, Fl – Residents are invited to join Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, Miami-Dade Commissioner Carlos Gimenez , City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz , City of Miami Commissioner Linda Haskins, civic leaders and Village West residents on Wednesday, August 23, 10:30 a.m., for the groundbreaking ceremony of the future Virrick Park Branch Library, 3255 Plaza Street, Coconut Grove.
The 3,100 square-foot, full-service library is the product of an Inter-local Agreement between Miami-Dade County, the Miami-Dade Public Library System and the City of Miami.  The future branch will house a collection of 15,000 materials and will offer access to the internet through computer terminals, and portable laptops in a Wi-Fi environment that will permeate beyond the building and be accessible in the nearby park.

For many years, Elizabeth Virrick Park has served as a recreational hub for this vibrant community.  With the late 2007 opening of this branch library, residents can look forward to additional educational, informational and cultural services that will include free SMART homework tutoring for K-12 students on Saturdays, book discussion groups and computer classes for seniors.

Since 1971, the Library System has operated and maintained eight additional libraries within the City of Miami.  This productive partnership between the City and the County has given more residents of the City of Miami access to the Library System’s extensive collection of materials…one of the largest in the Southeastern United States, with over 4 million materials.

The Library System’s Capital Expansion Plan calls for the opening of 18 libraries by 2011.  Six libraries have already opened under this aggressive plan in the areas of Palm Springs North, California Club, Concord, Doral, Lakes of the Meadow, and Sunny Isles Beach. The first library to be built in 20 years, the Golden Glades Branch is slated to open this fall. 

For additional information please call (305) 375-BOOK, or log on to www.mdpls.org

Media Contact:  Vinora Hamilton, Public Information Officer
                            Tel. (305) 375-3327
                            hamiltonv@mdpls.org