Vidalia &8212; Director of the Concordia Parish libraries, Amanda Taylor, said the construction of the new addition to Vidalia&8217;s library is going very well.

Almost all of the concrete work for the driveways and sidewalks is completed and the construction crew has already begun working on the interior, Taylor said.

Though there is not an official opening date set, Taylor said the new library&8217;s construction should be done by mid-October and all the furnishings will be in at the end of October or beginning of November.

&8220;The library board is very excited about offering this facility to Vidalia and all of Concordia Parish,&8221; Taylor said.

The new addition is a two- story building at the back of the old Concordia Parish courthouse on Texas Street.

Business owners in Natchez are also helping with the design of the library.

Taylor said Hal Gardner of Hal Gardner&8217;s Antiques and Interiors helped choose some of the colors, and Nancy Laird of Sign Graphics is etching some of the windows and designing a sign in front of the building.

&8220;We plan to etch the glass in the children&8217;s reading room with pictures of river boats, an anchor and captain&8217;s wheel,&8221; Laird said. &8220;We are going for a riverboat motif from a Louisiana perspective.

We are very lucky to have Amanda to put this program together.&8221;

The library will also have a program room to seat 80 people for events like children&8217;s summer reading programs, guest lecturers and adult reading programs, Taylor said.

&8220;We&8217;ve also built an enclosed patio area on the river side of the building with a fountain and an area where folks can read outside if they want,&8221; Taylor said. &8220;Above the fountain is a piece of the marquee from the original building, built in 1939.&8221;

Taylor said there would also be an upgrade of technology compared to the old library.

&8220;There&8217;s going to be 13 computers available, instead of just six, for public access, an over head projector in the program room and we will install a sound system to play throughout the whole building,&8221; Taylor said.

Taylor said the success of the library&8217;s construction is due to the people of Concordia Parish and the library board.

&8220;They have faith in the board and have always voted to keep, and in some cases increase, the millage rate and the board has worked hard to keep their word and spend what they promised the public,&8221; Taylor said.

Taylor said funding for the new library was made possible by saving the money received from the taxpayers of Concordia Parish for eight years.

&8220;The library board has spent all its savings on the new library,&8221; Taylor said. &8220;About 1.5 million was spent on the construction and $250,000 was spent on the furnishings.&8221;

&8220;During the transitional period from us moving all the furnishings into the new building, the library will still be open for business,&8221; Taylor said.