CINCINNATI, Ohio — It’s been a labor of love, but after years of work, the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library’s Downtown Main Library is now open.

“We closed three years ago, and we’ve been really working hard to transform this building that was originally built in 1955,” said the library’s Executive Director Paula Brehm-Heeger.

What You Need To Know

  • The Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library’s Downtown Main Library is now open

  • Building the new library was a $43M investment

  • The building is one of the largest libraries in the country

Stepping inside, the $43M investment shines from top to bottom.

Five floors and nearly two city blocks of learning material are ready to be explored.

“Our kids area has a replica of the Roebling Bridge that’s musical and interactive, so there’s lots of great stuff going on in there,” Brehm-Heeger said.

That’s one of the first places that attracted Bea Gork and her children, Jackson and Theodora.

“This is super exciting. We have been looking forward to this for a few weeks now. We love all the smaller branches but we’ve been looking forward to the renovation of the main library and it is beautiful. It blew it out of the park,” Gork said.

Gork and her kids are on a mission to visit every Cincinnati branch library.

They’ve been to 27 and have fewer than 20 to go.

Each library has its own feel, and they love learning about their city through the libraries.

“When we go to libraries, we definitely want to see something that’s active for the kids, but also we want to make sure there’s books of all ages and we want to make sure they’re talking to the librarians and having a great relationship with the community, especially with the librarians,” Gork said.

Inside you’ll find the classics mixed in with new-age library flair, plenty of art work and thousands of unique items.

Outside is a reading garden to bring a piece of tranquility to learning.

“I think they still want information," Brehm-Heeger said. "They want to learn new things, explore new things, but it’s very collaborative now. Information as an individual experience, that’s in the past. You don’t pull a card out of a card catalog anymore, you work with others. We have spaces that really are collaborative spaces that really enforce that idea of the new generation of information."

The new library is one of the largest buildings downtown, and it’s dedicated to public knowledge.

As for Gork, it’s topping the list.

“We love story times, and we love arts and crafts," she said. "We like family story time and when they do family activities. We definitely try to go to as many branches as we can, but now that the main branch is open, we are definitely coming back here."

It’ll be a non-stop celebration all weekend.

On Saturday, library staff will be working toward a world record for the most library card sign-ups.

You can expect guided tours, food trucks, and pickleball.