The public library that serves Spokane Valley is embarking on its biggest move in nearly seventy years.
Monday, the library staff (and some very helpful movers) began emptying the building the library has occupied since 1955. The circulating collection – which numbers some 70,000 books, DVDs and CDs – are being loaded onto carts built especially for library materials and moved to the library’s new home, a building on North Herald Road, about 1.4 miles west of the current library.
The library will be closed to the public during the move and the setup at the new location. A grand opening is slated for later this month.
Just like when anyone moves from one home to another, moving the library’s contents is a big lift.
“It’s a massive transition and change for everybody,” library manager Danielle Milton said Friday. “But we are excited and looking forward to being in a much newer, more exciting building.”
Milton said library staff will also be taking office supplies and materials used by library programs, such as arts-and-crafts items and toys for story time. The packing list also includes the “library of things” – Spokane County Library District’s collection of household appliances, electronics, learning kits and other physical items patrons can check out or use within the library.
But not everything is going. The old furniture will be left behind, and lots of odds and ends were thrown out or recycled during a pre-move cleanup.
“When you’re moving your home, you have a lot of little knick-knacks, little bits that don’t quite fit into a box. We don’t have as much of that, thankfully. So hopefully that will make the move a lot smoother,” Milton said.
This week will be dedicated to the move itself. Next week, library staff will put everything where it’s supposed to be. Milton said she believes the Spokane Valley Library will be ready to open to the public Saturday, June 17.
The library’s new home, a 28,000-square-foot building, was finished on time and within its $15 million budget, according to the Spokane County Library District. In addition to spaces for reading, study and children’s activities, the new library will include a 200-person capacity community room and an audio-visual studio that will be open to the public.
