New $12M Northchase library opens; expanding access across New Hanover County

Melanie Morgan, New Hanover County Public Library director said the addition fulfills the system’s goal of ensuring residents have a library within about five miles of where they live.

“To be able to have a library within five miles of radius from each other and so this is that final library that will help put that puzzle together and so that all of our community members have equal access to libraries within our county,” Morgan said.

The more than 19,000-square-foot facility represents an investment of more than $12 million and includes more than 30,000 books, a teen multimedia and gaming room, children’s story time pavilion, study rooms and flexible community spaces.

Morgan said modern libraries have evolved beyond traditional book collections, influencing the building’s design.

“That’s why we were really thoughtful about the spaces we created so that people who need to do Zoom meetings, or interviews for positions or even crafts, that is what we wanted to create,” she said.

Northchase resident Kaitlyn Seguin attended the grand opening with her family and said the library will provide another educational resource for her homeschooled children.

“We’ve been so excited, like looking online every single day just waiting to know when it’s going to open,” Seguin said.

She added the new library offers her family a place to learn and explore outside the home.

“It’s so nice to just get out of our own house but then they love reading and you can pick as many books as you want,” she said.

The Northchase branch brings the New Hanover County Public Library system to five locations, joining the Main Library, Northeast Regional Library, Pine Valley Library and Pleasure Island Library.