We made it!

With a little help from our friends and a lot of late nights and early mornings, the Richland Public Library opened its doors back at the home location on Friday, July 17th. A parade of about 100 kids, parents and our reading dogs carried the last of the books from the temporary location up the street a couple of blocks where hundreds more were waiting to get the first glimpse of how their tax dollars are being spent.

Richland City Mayor John Fox, City Manager Cindy Johnson, Library Board Chair Sally O'Neal, Library Manager Ann Roseberry and past Library Manager, Wayne Suggs were among the dignitaries speaking and also helped cut the ribbon into the newly expanded library. The Knights of Columbus also had a flag dedication ceremony. The Knights dedicated the flag pole to the library and have maintained the flag for many years and have agreed to continue doing so.

Library staff worked until nearly midnight the night before the big reveal and were back at work by 6:00 a.m. trying to get things running smoothly. Opening day, however, did not go without an occasional glitch like the library card machine crashing, the self checks going a little spastic and staff trying to figure out a brand new checkout system with virtually no training!

If you've been in, you might have noticed the lack of signage - we promise there will be signs SOON! Right now, pretend the library is your own little place to hold a scavenger hunt. Staff will be happy to try and help you find what you are looking for, but it might take a few minutes because we are still adjusting ourselves.

What to expect in the next few weeks: SIGNS, Automated Book Drops, new Login software on the computers, The Friends Book Sale Room, Coffee Shop, additional attractions in both the Richland Room and the Story Circle, and meeting rooms for use.

Remember to mark your calendars for Saturday, August 8th. Big Open House @ the Library from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Entertainment for the entire family all day long. Watch for special appearances by Children's Musician, Eric Herman and an evening of Blues with the Thunder River Boys and the JavaTones just to name a few.

Almost there...

It is just a few short days until we open the doors of the fantastically beautiful new and improved Richland Public Library to its owners - you, the taxpayers of Richland. Staff, along with our buddies at Chervenell, Perfection Glass, Larsen Transfer, Spacesaver and a few others have been working night and day to open up on time.

Over the past 10 days, over 6,000 shelves have been installed, all the books and other library materials have arrived in the Larsen trucks and have been unloaded onto said shelves. The story circle is currently being installed and today, the tables and chairs are arriving. If you look outside, you will see the new benches and garbage cans out front along with the art piece of the two children reading that has been relocated from John Dam Plaza.

Last week, the Library Foundation held a dessert gala where over 200 people purchased tickets to attend the fundraiser for the Richland Room Collection that will showcase local history. Special guests at this function included staff who worked in the old library before it became the new library, that became the old library and now is new again!

Que Sera Sera

This is our motto for the next few weeks. Whatever will be, will be. We're right in the middle of packing and hope to start our move Monday July 6th. We are freaked out by the whole thing, and have pretty much decided that we have NO schedule for this move. We are going to wing the heck out of this thing! (Which, for the usually well organized librarian is a terrible thing indeed)

However, we are committed to opening up again on the 17th of July. We decided we would rather move over as soon as we were able to operate at a functional level, so that we could avoid another month's rent, so that we could open our doors to our patrons as soon as possible, and so that we could be back home in a building with working plumbing. What that means to you is you will have the opportunity to play "I Spy" in the new building while hunting down the new items arriving each week.

I know that some of you might have noticed the extreme emotions running through the staff at this time. Rest assured, we should all be back to our normal happy fun (sane) selves by about... December? No, really we should be ready to have fun and party on both July 17th for the Ribbon Cutting ceremony, and on August 8th for the Grand Open House.

During the next two weeks, we will try to keep you posted on what's happening in the library and look forward to seeing each and every one of you at the ribbon cutting ceremony on July 17th. The parade will begin at 9:30 and start at the temporary location at 1270 Lee Blvd., and finish up two blocks away at our real home of 955 Lee Blvd. The Ribbon Cutting ceremony will begin at 10:00 am, and the doors should open by 10:30am.

Stay cool and we'll see y'all in two weeks!

Theresa