BATON ROUGE - Community leaders put shovels in dirt on Tuesday to mark the start of construction on a new East Baton Rouge Parish library.

The South Branch Library will take form at Perkins Road and Glasgow Avenue.

The nearly 19 thousand square foot building will include dedicated areas for children and teens, gallery space and numerous meeting and study rooms.

The total budget is about $11.6 million.

"The investment in this project will provide world-class resources and amenities for patrons," Interim Library Co-Director Patricia Husband said. "This is just another step in a long process to bring such nationally enviable resources and world-class libraries to every neighborhood we serve."

Construction is slated to wrap up in about 14 months.