VIDALIA — The Concordia Parish Library in Vidalia is adding additional reading room for their parish residents.

Library Director Amanda Taylor said the Concordia Parish Police Jury has been cooperative in allowing the public library to have the complete first floor of the old courthouse on Carter Street.

Taylor said upon completion, when an individual enters the library from Texas Avenue, it would lead into the old courthouse.

“We started in the last week of December and everything has been going well,” Taylor said. “We are right on schedule.”

The additional space for the library is being contracted to Wilmar Construction Co. in Vidalia, while architects Maureen Arndt of Dallas and Fred Bennett of Monroe work on the expansion also.

Taylor said by using the first floor of the old courthouse, more space will be offered to the public, including the addition of more technology.

“We will have three new public spaces that are meeting rooms for the public to use,” Taylor said. “The third of those spaces will be a computer lab for 12 people, which can also be opened to meeting groups.”

The new technology that will be incorporated with the library’s expansion will give parish residents the tools to connect their devices, such as an iPhone, to flat screen TVs.

The library will also be re-carpeted and additional furniture will be added.

Taylor said the library will also keep the colors of the Mississippi River so the library’s settings would be pleasing to the public.

“We enjoy serving the public and we respect our taxpayers,” Taylor said. “We feel that we are an important education institution in our parish.”

Taylor said the library has saved the tax dollars it generates to pay for the expansion of the library.

“We did not use a grant,” Taylor said. “The library board has been saving money to do this work.”

Taylor said the expansion is expected to be completed in June.