The West Biloxi Library, which has undergone a quarter-million-dollar facelift over the past four months, will hold its first pre-school summer reading program of the summer on Tuesday morning at 10.
Visitors to the Pass Road library will find new carpeting, a freshly painted interior, and a remodeled and expanded children’s area, all topped by a new roof over the entire building.
The library actually re-opened last week, but it’s schedule was interrupted while the building served as a polling place for the general election on Tuesday.
“I think the first thing people will notice is that the library looks a lot cleaner, is brighter and essentially looks new again,” said Biloxi Head Librarian Charlene Longino. “Besides the new carpeting, they’ll see new paint on the walls, and they’ll notice the new children’s department, which we’ve moved to the front of the library and it has its own specially colored carpeting and shelving and computer tables designed for their size.”
The city spent $173,000 to install a new roof on the building, Seabees painted the walls with paint provided by Harrison County, and library staff and volunteers packed up 20,000 of the library’s 35,000 volumes while the work was being done.
“We’re still waiting for $30,000 worth of new furniture for the children’s area and a new service desk for the library’s front entrance,” Longino said, “and we expect those materials to arrive shortly.”
Hours of the West Biloxi Library are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The library is closed on Sunday.
Downtown temporary library on the move
The temporary library that serves downtown Biloxi closed its Howard Avenue location today so it could be re-located to south of the Biloxi Community Center.
The library trailer is being moved to make way for the pending construction of a new library and civic center on Howard Avenue.
“We closed as of today so we could pack up books and put the computers in a safe place,” said librarian Charlene Longino. “We had to completely empty the trailer for the move. We’ll be moving furniture next week, and the plan is to re-open at the new temporary location in early July.”
Photos and more info online
— To see photos of new carpet being installed and the newly remodeled library, click here.
— To read more about the West Biloxi Library’s summer reading program, click here.
