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Light Drizzle West End Library branch officially opens
Community celebrates at ribbon-cutting ceremony
The Long Beach Public Library formally opened the doors of its new West End branch with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, June 27, after nearly three years of discussions and delays. The branch is a modern take on the idea of a library, officials said, and was designed to be a technology center and meeting place within the neighborhood.
Members of the West End community, library board and local officials — including members of the City Council, County Legislator Denise Ford and Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky — came out to celebrate the opening.
Located at 903 W. Beech St., the branch will feature four computers, two iMacs, a printer, scanner, copier, fax machine and a crayon kiosk — a station containing three iPads for children —, library officials said. There will also be a selection of movies available to rent in addition to books.
“I’m overjoyed, it was a dream come true,” said library board President Carol Arnone. “This branch is our gift to the people of the West End, for everything they went through in Sandy and everything they did for one another to pull together afterward.”
The previous branch, at 810 W. Beech St., suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy when flooding destroyed stacks of books and furniture.
According to Arnone, the library’s programming is still being developed, but will appeal to people of all ages. “We’ll have story time for the kids and card parties for the seniors,” she said. “And lots of computers for the teenagers to come in and do their homework.”
Though the library is open for business, new materials are still arriving and it won’t be fully stocked for a few weeks. “More books are coming every day, the shelves will be filled in a very short period of time,” she said. There are already DVDs available to rent as well.
There was initially some debate whether or not to reopen the branch at all after the storm. Members of the community — particularly the West End Neighbors Civic Association — continually petitioned the board until they approved a new facility last fall.
