Public libraries have come a long way from the reading rooms of the past, where the librarian’s “Shhhh!” followed any utterance above a whisper.
In fact, they’re noisy places today — modern community gathering centers where you’re just as likely to find someone using a laser cutter, 3-D printer or CNC milling machine as reading a book.
Most of those hands-on activities are relegated to rooms at the local library branch, in what have become known as “makerspaces.”
But it’s rare to have a stand-alone library building dedicated to just those amenities — let alone one as large as two stories and 8,000 square feet. And with a fully equipped commercial kitchen, to boot.
In Arlington Heights, construction crews are finishing the build-out of what will be known as the Arlington Heights Memorial Library Makerplace, a series of…
