DEARBORN —  A celebration was held on Friday, May 30, to mark the completion of the remodeling and updating project that has transformed the children’s area of Dearborn’s Henry Ford Centennial Library (HFCL). The new children’s area includes a theme-based design center entitled An Enchanted Forest, with elements such as an arched entryway into the children’s area, a reading tree house and a child-size puppet theater, a relocation and re-design of the children’s area reference desk and a brand new baby alcove.

The redesign dovetails with the mission of children’s services:  to create an exciting place for children and their families to visit so that they will become lifelong users of the library and its resources.

The project is funded by the Dearborn Public Library Foundation, a non-profit entity established for the purpose of benefiting, promoting and enhancing the Dearborn public library system.

“We can’t thank the Library Foundation enough for its commitment to helping make this great new children’s area a reality,” said Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. “And everyone appreciates the hard work of the HFCL staff to continue to deliver services to our patient library patrons during the renovation period.”

The completed project is phase one of a larger enhancement project for HFCL. The Library Foundation is seeking additional donations to help with phase two of the children’s area renovation project. That phase includes a redesign and update of the children’s program/story room and new computer tables for the children’s area.

Looking even further into the future, the Library Foundation will be investigating other projects to enhance HFCL, as well as its branch libraries:  Bryant, Snow, and Esper.

Children’s Services staff at HFCL are finishing up plans for a public grand opening celebration to be held sometime in mid-June. Be sure to visit the library website www.dearbornlibrary.org for more information.

Information will also be available in local newspapers and on CDTV (City of Dearborn Television). CDTV is Channel 12 on Comcast and Channel 10 on WOW! Internet-Cable-Phone.

To learn more about the Dearborn Public Library Foundation and to find out how you can donate to the project, call 313.943.2037.