Katherine DuBose Davis Porter Reading Garden Just outside the main reading area is the Katherine DuBose Davis Porter Reading Garden with seating for quiet reading and area for larger gatherings.  Katherine Porter was a great supporter of the library as well as an active member of state and local garden clubs.  During the 1997 renovation of the library she died of cancer.  Her family requested that memorial gifts be given to fund a garden at the library in her honor.  The library had planned a garden in this area as part of the renovation plan, which was a parking lot prior to 1997, but there was no funding.  With the gifts from Mrs. Porter's memorial fund and a generous gift from the Porter family, plans for the garden came to fruition.  T. Lake Environmental designed the space for the new garden and oversaw the construction.  The garden was the first designed public space in Dublin in the last century and has been awarded the Georgia Green Industry Association's Grand Award in the category of institutional projects.