Greenwood’s newest library comes with a soundproof recording studio, which is a mildly rebellious feature for a building category famous for whispering.

Rudisill Regional Library opened October 3 at 1017 N. Greenwood Ave. The new 33,000-square-foot building gives one of North Tulsa’s longtime community institutions more room, but the size is only the beginning.

Tulsa City-County Library says the African American Resource Center has doubled in size. Genealogy resources are back in North Tulsa. The maker space includes an audio lab, a soundproof recording studio and musical instruments. Children have an expanded area and storytime room, while teens have space designed for them as well.

That puts several generations of Tulsa stories under one roof. Someone tracing family history can begin with the records. A young creator can explore audio. A child can find a book, disappear into it for a while and emerge only when hunger or an adult intervenes.

Rudisill’s own history makes the setting fit. The library system traces the branch to North Regional Library, which opened in 1976 and was renamed for Freddie Rudisill after his death in 1979. Greenwood’s library history reaches further back, to a first library in 1917.

The connection runs through the staff history too. In Shaunicy Muhammad’s opening report for The Oklahoma Eagle, regional manager Keith Jemison recalled beginning his library career shelving books under Freddie Rudisill.

Today, the African American Resource Center continues collecting, preserving and making African American history and culture accessible. TCCL describes holdings that include oral histories from North Tulsans and materials for educators.

Greenwood carries layers of Tulsa history. Rudisill does not treat that history like something sealed behind glass. The new building gives neighbors more room to search it, record it, teach it and add to it.

The ribbon cutting is finished. The more interesting part starts after the ceremony, when families, students, researchers, creators and neighbors walk through the doors and decide what to do with all that room.

Rudisill gives Greenwood’s stories more space to be found—and new ones more space to begin.

Visit the Rudisill Regional Library page or call 918-549-7323 for current information about individual resources and spaces.