Lawmakers announce funding for a new Essex public library

Baltimore County Public Library has secured an additional $2.5 million in state and federal funding to support building a new branch in Essex, officials announced Thursday.

The project’s existing funding commitment, including $7 million the county spent to purchase the new location, totals $9.5 million. The county could secure more funding through a bond question on the general election ballot, which asks voters to approve borrowing money for projects including the library.

If the bond is passed, close to $58 million would go toward the construction of the Essex branch. A library spokesperson said the final cost will be confirmed closer to when the project starts.

Funding would support the construction of the planned 35,769-square-foot, three-floor structure on Old Eastern Avenue, less than a mile from the existing building. The new building would include an auditorium, a food pantry and a tool-lending area, according to early renderings, and feature a playground and landscaping for outdoor programming.

“It’s complete with all of the amenities needed for a 21st century library,” Havaca Ganguly, the president of the board of library trustees, said at a news conference at the library Thursday afternoon.

Baltimore County branches are on average 55 years old, and the way people use libraries has changed. Some buildings need upgrades, and some routinely close for a few weeks for maintenance. The Arbutus and Loch Raven branches will close for two weeks starting Monday to repair a sewer line outside the building in one and replace exterior stairs in the other.

The Essex branch opened in the 1970s, and it shows its age. At 20,000 square feet, it’s too small for modern library needs, branch manager Mike Jackson said.

“We can all see, as time has gone by, the needs of the library have changed, and clearly this place, this library right here, does not have the capacity to meet the need for all these new and evolving services,” U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said during the news conference.

“This is a very deliberate effort to say to the Essex community, ‘We hear you, we see you, and we want to make sure that we make this investment in your future,’” he said in an interview afterward.

“Essex is a community that hasn’t had a lot of investment. So this is huge,” he said.

Serving nearly 70,000 residents in Eastern Baltimore County, the Essex branch is one of the system’s busiest locations, library officials said. In fiscal year 2026, the branch had more than 122,000 visitors, circulated more than 135,000 items and recorded more than 38,000 public computer sessions.

Breanna Kwiatkowski, 22, said she comes to the library every day. She is homeless and lives in a tent nearby, she said, and she spends most daytime hours at the Essex branch.

“I can trust people in here,” she said. She knows the rules and tries to help the staff. “If I see somebody sleeping, I’ll be like, ‘Hey, you gotta wake up. You can’t sleep in here.’”

The newest Baltimore County library to open, in 2013, is in Owings Mills. Recently, Baltimore County Public Library has sought to renovate its branches. The Catonsville library reopened in 2024 after a $7 million renovation, and the county spent $22 million to expand and renovate the Woodlawn branch.

The Randallstown branch is set to reopen in 2029 after a $41 million renovation funded by the state and county. The renovated building will include a community food pantry, creation spaces, pickleball courts and a gymnasium in a 90,000-square-foot facility on Liberty Road.

At the news conference, officials reminded the crowd that libraries are more than just books.

“Libraries are helping to create the social fabric of our communities,” Ganguly said. They offer passport services, food security for kids when school is out for the summer and a place to linger during the day.

" We really are the bedrock of a community," she said.