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Big Changes Coming For The Enoch Pratt Free Library

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Changes are on the way for the Enoch Pratt Free Library's central branch.

WJZ's Amy Yensi reports the renovations aim to preserve the history of the landmark.

Since opening its doors in the 1930s, the branch has been a protagonist in the city's cultural legacy and a vital resource for curious minds from one generation to the next. It replaced the original, which had been on Mulberry Street since the 1880s.

With a $115 million renovation and restoration, the library is getting shelf space for more than a million volumes, an entire wing for teens, an expanded children's department and updates to technology and infrastructure.

It will maintain its historic look and feel, but will have the latest and greatest, according Dr. Carla Hayden, CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

An architect apparently told Hayden that the building was getting "a heart and lung transplant with a little botox."

Renovations are expected to be completed in three-and-a-half years.

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