Tell Richland Library what features you want in the new Edgewood branch

The Richland Library wants to know what the Edgewood community and its neighbors would like to see in their new library.

The library is hosting a public input meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, at the Cecil Tillis Center, 2111 Simpkins Lane.

The Edgewood library branch is expected to open in 2018.

It’s been more than 40 years since the closest public library – one of few available to African-Americans in the days of persistent segregation – shut down on Gervais Street in the nearby Waverly neighborhood. The new Edgewood branch will be the only library within walking distance for many residents of the Edgewood, Celia Saxon, Waverly and Martin Luther King neighborhoods.