The City of Arlington will break ground at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 11, on its seventh library. The future Southwest Branch Library will be located at 3311 SW Green Oaks Blvd. between Bowen Road and Park Springs Boulevard.

The program includes Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, City Council Member Sheri Capehart and Arlington Library Advisory Board Chair Marc Stach. Other program participants include Director of Libraries Cary Siegfried and Kevin McLaren, chair of the Southwest Arlington Action Team.

The $3 million project is funded by bonds approved by Arlington voters in 1999. Funding for the Children’s Learning Center was provided to the Arlington Public Library Foundation by private donors, including Spring Creek Restaurants, which is owned by Chris and Becky Carroll. The Children’s Learning Center is a designated area for elementary and junior high school students to access learning tools and complete school assignments.

When construction is completed, the 11,200 square foot library will be a single-story building on 4.9 acres of property west of Fire Station No. 10. It will house more than 50,000 books and audio visual items and include 12 computer stations and a meeting room with a seating capacity for 75 people. When it opens later this year, the Southwest Branch Library will become the city’s second largest branch library. The largest branch library is the Southeast Branch Library at 900 SE Green Oaks Blvd. In 2005, this branch had 256,203 visitors, which averages 102 library patrons per hour.

"The Arlington Public Library System is proud to deliver more convenient library services to the residents living in the southwest sector of our city," Siegfried said.