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Library technician Jill Otto says she’s glad to be busy again. Public visitation has picked up at the new Mary J.L. Black Public Library since it first opened in May.
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Ruth Randle holds her one-year-old granddaughter Tammy at the grand opening of the Mary JL Black Library on June 11, 2011. (Jeff Labine, tbnewswatch.com)
Library technician Jill Otto says she’s glad to be busy again.

Public visitation has picked up at the new Mary J.L. Black Public Library since it first opened in May. Otto has had a number of schools come to visit and said the public has enjoyed using the computers.

Otto said it is great to see so many people come in to use the library and fantastic to be busy again.

"We’re ecstatic. It’s a wonderful opening and a wonderful beginning," Otto said. "We have at least doubled the amount of people visiting the library in the three weeks that we’ve been opened as opposed to the entire month last year at the old library.

"We’re here to serve the public and we love to do it," she said. "We’re just so happy that people are very positive about the new facility."

Otto said the fact that the building is so accessible really draws people in.

Ruth Randle, 59, she couldn’t wait to bring her one-year-old-granddaughter Tammy into the library. She and her granddaughter attended the grand opening of the library on Saturday.

Randle said she was happy with how the building looked and thought the children in the area would love it.

"I’m sure I`ll be here at least once a week, easily," Randle said. "Once Tammy starts school maybe I`ll be here even more. The old Mary J.L. Black Library was really nice but kids are into computers now so a modern library will be good for Tammy."

Barbara Philp, acting chief librarian for the Mary J.L. Black Library, said activity has gone up by 50 per cent and with the grand opening, she expected that number to go even higher.

"People now see what they are getting," Philp said. "I think it is going to be fabulous from here on out. We’re finding across the country that libraries are a place to meet not just a place to get some books. It is a destination point and many libraries are calling themselves the living rooms of the community."





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