Champaign Public Library to expand facility by Summer 2023

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - The Champaign Public Library has officially announced the expansion of their services for teens after school.

The Studio is an eight thousand square-foot expansion that will include recording studio, computer lab, gaming area, and more for teenagers to explore their creativity.

“Every day after school we see about 160 to 200 teens coming over for after-school activities, which is really exciting. And currently we do a lot of those activities in our meeting space areas. But really by exploring some space on the lower level and expanding our offerings we’re able to enhance and innovate what we can make available to our community,” said Library Director, Brittany Millington.

Millington said the facility will be open for adults too.

"It will be primarily utilized after school for after-school activities for teens, but we will be hosting classes, programs, workshops, and things for adults to get an opportunity to be in this space and explore the technology,” stated Millington.

This expansion could provide teenagers with different experiences that could help them in the future. 

“I think that there is a real opportunity there for students to get experience with things that might spark an entrepreneurial idea and innovative idea that they might be able to explore as a potential college major or business idea,” said Millington.

The project should be complete by Summer 2023.