By: Paige Edmund
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — The Fayetteville Public Library has been closed for maintenance repairs and will reopen on Tuesday, Oct. 1 with normal operating hours.
The library found ways to interact with the community during the renovation by bringing books to the community.
The FPL on Wheels Bookmobile followed their youth and teen services to Walker, Gulley, and Wilson Park to offer Story Time to toddlers and families. They allowed patrons to check out books and open library cards during the non-traditionally operated period.
Fayetteville Public Library Manager of Youth and Teen Events, Sarah McClure said, “I love connecting people to the library and story time is what does that for this age group,” McClure said. “It’s a joyful experience and doing it outside was pretty fun.”
McClure said she understands the importance of events like these and is excited to continue them when the library is operational.
Story Time was operated in the children’s section of the library and allowed parents and children a place to find community and gain enriching experiences as well. Community engagement continued during the closure with a mobile book service offering Story Time at local parks, which attracted larger-than-usual crowds.
“Story Time averages about 70 or 80 people. Today we had about 150,” said Jim Curry, a youth services librarian, when helping operate story time at Gully Park.
During the closure, the library offered a curbside pickup option and pushed back all return dates for checked-out items.
The library’s reference services commented, “Our main objective was to keep patrons and staff safe while the crane was in operation during the replacement.”
During the early days of repair, several streets were closed and detours were created so the crane was operational with moving the equipment to the building’s roof.
The maintenance being done was to install a new HVAC system seeing as their original one had been operational for the last 20 years. The library commented saying the repairs happening this week are not related to the fire that occurred earlier this year in April, even though they are still working to recover and repair that damage as well.
The library is relying on fundraising to restore the fire damage saying that the minimum cost for their insurance deductible is $100,000. The library is stated to have roughly $80,000 in donations already.