{"id":406251,"date":"2026-09-21T15:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/406251\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T15:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:10:10","slug":"st-petes-obama-main-library-receives-honor-for-renovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/406251\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete\u2019s Obama Main Library receives honor for renovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">St. Petersburg&#8217;s President Barack Obama Main Library didn&#8217;t always appear the way it does now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In 2021, the library closed for renovations and faced many hurdles: the coronavirus pandemic, rising construction costs, asbestos abatement and a change in city leadership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The 40,000-square-foot library was built in 1963, and when <a data-ylk=\"slk:it reopened;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/st-petersburg\/2025\/09\/03\/st-petersburg-obama-main-library-reopen-date\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">it reopened<\/a> last year, it looked completely different.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Guests can find a children&#8217;s space and a teen room, along with a computer lab and study rooms. They can also stop by the caf\u00e9 and bookstore with a curated selection of donated books and library merchandise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The upgrades to the President Barack Obama Main Library didn&#8217;t go unnoticed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The library is one of 15 projects selected for the <a data-ylk=\"slk:2026 Library Design Showcase;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/americanlibrariesmagazine.org\/2026\/09\/01\/2026-library-design-showcase\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">2026 Library Design Showcase<\/a> by American Libraries, the flagship magazine of the American Library Association.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The annual list recognizes standout new, renovated and restored libraries that respond to the evolving needs of their communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The American Library Association noted the St. Petersburg library &#8220;embraces the city&#8217;s waterfront identity through airy gathering spaces and artwork inspired by the ocean.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Leon County Public Library in Tallahassee also made the nonprofit&#8217;s list. Along with a revamped second floor, the library has a tech hub for learning, workforce development and community services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg&#8217;s President Barack Obama Main Library didn&#8217;t always appear the way it does now. In 2021, the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[161318,161317,10906,122353,161319,72386,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-406251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-american-libraries","tag-american-library-association","tag-barack-obama","tag-leon-county-public-library","tag-library-design","tag-main-library","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}