HILLMAN - The Hillman Wright Library has moved to a new location and opened Tuesday. The new library building is located on 610 Caring Street; its prior location was behind Lickety Splits.
According to branch Librarian Tina Mulka, the construction for the new library building began approximately a year ago, but books, CD's, movies, audio books, and VHS tapes were moved to the new location on Jan. 10.
"It's been a lot of work, but we had around 20 volunteers every day from people in our community. They were a great help, everyone seemed excited about our new location," Mulka said.
According to Mulka the new building has double the space and new additions.
"The other library was small and cramped. We still have the same amount of books, but now they are all on shelves and not in boxes because there wasn't enough room," she said.
The new library building also has a public community room for meetings, more bathrooms, and a genealogy room with local and Michigan history that will be free and open to the public.
"Our space has doubled. We have room for all of our books and other materials. It's basically all set up, we're just catching up on circulation, which stopped for 10 days when we moved to our new location," Mulka said.
Library services also will expand, including WiFi in the building, more cafe style tables for laptops and e-readers, while the other location did not offer any of the additions.
The library will feature study rooms, a new teen area, and two new computers - it had eight before, now it has 10.
Emily Siegmon can be reached via e-mail at esiegmon@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5687.